To Love-Ru: Reconnect
by Aaron Hawke
Summary: Lots of things fall out of the sky and into TLR gang's life, but when a boy named Max falls into town things change a little. Rito gets another guy in the house to help balance the scales. Momo takes an interest in the boy but struggles to admit it. Some things stay the same for the group, but others change as Max seizes his second chance at life in a new world full of mystery.
1. Chapter 1

**(********) = Scene/Location/Time Change**

Chapter 1: Max Lockton

It was some time around midnight, the dark haired boy looked up at the stars that painted the sky on the country road he found himself on. The teenager had decided to take a stroll to calm his nerves. His parents, if you could call them that, were never around but when they were they argued endlessly.

"If you don't love each other don't get married you idiots…" the high schooler growled.

The boy exhaled deeply and watched as his breath floated away like smoke into the cold night. His entire life had been some sort of cosmic joke as no matter what he tried he watched anything around him fall apart. His parent's relationship, all of his friendships except one had failed and the one that didn't may as well have because the two were from separate classes, and even plants seemed to hate him as he could never successfully grow a single thing in the class garden.

"I wish I could just escape." Max muttered to himself.

"How badly?" a voice questioned.

The boy turned to look for whoever had spoken to him, but only found empty space. He turned to continue his walk believing it had only been his imagination but was surprised to see a robed figure standing underneath the only light on the road.

"They weren't there before." Max noted internally.

"How badly do you wish you could escape?" the figure stated again clarifying the question.

"Have you ever heard the story about the two men and the ocean?" Max countered with his own question, but the figure didn't respond.

"It's a story that pretty much says you should want something as badly as you want air when you're drowning." Max explained adjusting his glasses out of habit.

"Are you drowning?" the shrouded person asked with a hint of a giggle.

"Yes." the young boy replied with absolute certainty.

"I see," the figure said raising their hand, "then let your wish be granted."

Suddenly, the ground began to crack underneath him. As the world shattered like glass the boy let himself fall. Max was about to scream and flail but he stopped himself and devoted his brain to attempting to rationalize the situation.

"This has to be some dream, I'll just wake up and return to my life and forget this within a few minutes." Max thought to himself though somewhat disappointedly.

The dark haired boy fell freely through pitch black darkness that enveloped him, ahead of him a pinprick of light grew until it became the image of a bright and colorful world. The cartoon like shades of the landscape astounded the boy and as he got closer to the ground he exponentially lost his composure.

"OHHHHHHHHHH SHIT!" he screamed just as he struck the earth.

 **(********)**

"Is he ok?"

"Hmmm… Probably!"

"Oi what do you mean probably?!"

"It's not like we put him there! How would we know you beast!?"

"Hey hey he's waking up!"

Max opened his eye to see a large purple pair looking back into his. After a moment's hesitation he realized that his face was extremely close to that of a pink haired girl. Startled he tried to stand up but wound up bumping heads with her and knocking his glasses off.

"Where the hell am I? How did I get here?" the dark haired boy asked to no one in particular.

"That was one heck of a fall you had. We sensed your impact and fall on a radar system designed for detecting aliens." The girl he had just smashed heads with replied ignoring his other questions as she rubbed her forehead and stood up.

She then bent over and picked up Max's glasses and began to study them.

"It's amazing that these managed to stay on while you fell." She said glancing at Max.

Ignoring the comment Max examined his surroundings. He found himself in a meter deep crater surrounded by three pink haired girls, a boy with golden brown hair, and a child that seemed to be giving him the death stare.

Max's brain went into over drive as he though, "A crater? Wait did she say I fell? What the hell is going on the last thing I remember is that dream with the weird shrouded figure and then…"

Interrupting his train of thought, the boy of the group slid into the crater and pated Max on the shoulder.

"Nice to meet you, my name's Rito Yuuki." He stated introducing himself.

"Ah um, I'm Max, Max Lockton." The green eyed boy replied awkwardly.

"That's a unique name!" the tallest girl noted rather energetically, "I'm Lala Satalin Deviluke. That fall was spectacular."

"Um, thanks?" Max replied not knowing quite what she meant, "But where am I?"

"Japan." Rito replied.

"Ok, so same country." Max sighed with relief.

"What?" the pink haired girl with pigtails all but shouted her next words, "You fell from the sky and you aren't from space?"

"From space?" Max said slowly as he finally noticed that the three girls all had tails, "Could they be..?"

"Nana keep it down." Rito said as he sweat dropped, "and Momo please give him his glasses back."

The girl that had been over top him was now wearing his glasses and looked like she was pondering something.

"So her name is Momo." Max thought as he gazed at her.

"But these aren't real glasses." She stated.

"Yeah, they were a gift a long time ago." The dark haired boy explained with a hint of remorse as he remembered the man he thought of as his grandfather giving them to him.

For a brief moment Momo looked shocked at his response but quickly hid it and returned the glasses.

"Ah, Rito!" Lala exclaimed, "We're gonna be late to school!"

"Crap we'll just have to take him with us and introduce him to Mikado Sensei." Rito said as he started clambering out of the crater.

"Come on." Momo commanded grabbing Max's arm and pulling him along as the five of them ran.

 **(********)**

They arrived at school with time to spare. The group left max in the infirmary with Mikado Sensei and headed to their classes. Nana ran ahead to tell Mea all that happened, but Momo walked to class.

"He fell to earth, but he's not an alien." Momo mumbled to herself thinking about the new boy that had quite literally fallen into their lives, "who could he be?"

Momo stepped into class and was instantly surrounded by boys. The image of being surrounded by the opposite sex instantly snapped her out of her thoughts.

"I don't have time to be worrying about this," Momo informed herself, "I have to focus on the Harem Plan."

With that last thought the bell rang and class began. The teacher introduced Yami to the class and the blonde assassin known as "Golden Darkness" went and took her seat in the back of the class. At the next break Momo observed as Yami rejected two boys that tried to talk to her. She decided against talking to her too after the incident the night before she figured Yami didn't trust her much either.

"What I need to do is figure out how to get her into the harem." Momo muttered quietly to herself.

The next chance she had Momo decided to go check on Celine and the new boy in the infirmary, but when she got there she only found Mikado and Celine. She looked around to see if he was anywhere in the room.

"Looking for Max?" Mikado inquired with a wry smile.

"No!" Momo answered a little too quickly drawing even more of a grin from the nurse.

Momo cursed herself mentally, "What am I doing looking for him? I don't even know him."

"Well in case you aren't looking for him he isn't on the roof top," Mikado Sensei chided teasingly, "and he certainly couldn't use any company with what he's going through."

With that the doctor went back to playing with the plant child until she got a look like she remembered something important.

"How is that new transfer student doing?" the older woman inquired.

"It feels like there are walls around her…" Momo replied sheepishly remembering the rejection of the two male students, "she seems a little unapproachable."

"Ah, I figured, she can be clumsy you know" the doctor stated sadly, "I knew her before she came to earth. Underground doctors and assassins run in similar circles. I'd like to see her lead a peaceful life with the rest of you. Please look out for her for me."

"Oh." Momo said shocked at the request, "yes mam."

(…)

Hey everyone this is my first work so Í hope you enjoy it please leave feedback. I know it's a bit of an overdone and washed out concept, but I still think it's something both enjoyable to read and to write. I'm going to stick with a lot of the events from the story, but I do plan to make some of my own as well. Any ideas or concepts you'd like to see and I can certainly include them as filler chapter while waiting for more cannon to be published to base the story off of once this catches up. I plan to parallel a lot of the story as I said before, but there with be an original villain to counter our new character, so look forward to it.

A.H.


	2. Chapter 2

**(********) = Scene/Location/Time Change**

Chapter 2: Far away, but very close.

With a heavy sigh Max pushed the door to the roof open. He had decided that he needed some fresh air, and Mikado had said this was the place to get it, but when he opened the door he found he wasn't alone on the school roof. In front of him on the roof top with him there were two people, a red haired girl and she was leaning over top of… RITO?!

"That's odd _,_ " Max noted internally, "I would've sworn up and down Lala and Rito had some sort of thing based on how Lala acted on our way here. Could I have been wrong?"

It was then that the dark haired boy noticed that Rito was very much asleep and the girl seemed to be watching him sleep. He decided to walk over and see what this was about.

"Anything to get the depressing stuff off my mind…" Max mumbled to himself, but in that very moment the girl seemed to notice his presence like she had just woken up. It was in this moment that Max sensed from her an odd feeling that he couldn't place.

"Who are you?" the girl said as her blue eyes cast a venomous glare.

"Max," the green eyed new guy replied simply, "I don't know what you were doing, or anything about Rito for that matter either since I'm new here, but he has Lala so if you had any intentions I'm going to have to ask you to back off."

"Tch!" she grumbled disappointedly, "another anti-pervert."

"I wouldn't go that far, but I don't know anything about you and all I know is there are people that would miss him." The dark haired teen clarified defensively, "If I hadn't felt a weird vibe from you I wouldn't have said anything. After all you could just be a stalker and that wouldn't be any of my business."

"You're weird." The girl put bluntly and it felt like daggers had been run into Max's chest, "But if you must know I was entering his dreams."

"Isn't that sort of thing something you keep secret?" Max asked plainly while on the inside his thoughts went more along the lines of:

"Oh great, first cute girls with tails that are likely aliens, though I haven't asked so who knows, but now there's another odd one. Poor Rito, if this is his every day I really feel bad for the guy. Even my days weren't this odd."

"Master said it was safe to tell you." The girl said, "I'm Mea by the way."

"Nice to meet you Mea, and wait is that because she doesn't think anyone with believe me?!" The green eyed boy replied more than a little indignantly.

Giggles were his only response because suddenly a gust of wind swept across the rooftop and a blonde girl in school uniform appeared. Her hair turned into a blade and she struck at Mea who defended herself with her own hair blade. Rito remained asleep as if nothing was going.

"Could this day get any weirder?" Max wondered aloud.

The blonde girl suddenly seemed to notice the dark haired boy's presence and cast a glare as she spoke, "Who are you? Rito is my target."

The last bit about a target seemed to be directed at Mea so the boy adjusted his glasses and answered, "A new guy, I guess you could say I just dropped in."

"No need to worry Yami Onee-Chan," Mea replied with a smirk, "Master would be angry if I were to steal your target, and, other than having a high tolerance for the abnormal, that boy is harmless."

Max wasn't too sure how he felt about being called harmless, but he decided to let it go and watch the scene unfold. No more words were exchanged as the red head left the roof top. After Mea left Yami eyed Max in silence skeptically.

"I'm not sure I'd say harmless," Max sighed breaking the silence, "but I'm certainly no threat to you and I have no intention of harming Rito."

Seeming satisfied with that answer the blonde girl left the rooftop without another word. Leaving Max alone with, the still fast asleep, Rito. By some miracle the golden brown haired boy had slept through the small scuffle between the two girls.

Sometime later Rito stirred and woke to see the new boy that he had just met earlier that day sitting beside him watching the clouds. Rito sat up and yawned stretching his muscles and waking himself up.

"You sleep like the dead." Max stated casually as Rito stood up and got his blood circulating again.

"Did I miss something important?" the older boy asked.

"Not really," the green eyed newcomer replied, "though judging by the number of bells I've heard you probably missed a couple classes.

"Eh!" Rito exclaimed incredulously, "Why didn't you wake me?"

"Didn't see a reason to," Max answered, "I figured you had a reason to sleep and I'm in no position to disrupt that."

"You're a pretty serious guy." He replied.

"Not really," Max laughed in reply, "It's just the perfect weather for a nap, so why make that go to waste."

The younger boy was right Rito noted that there was a soft gentle breeze giving an air of calm to the deserted roof top. It then dawned on the golden eyed boy that he hadn't asked why the other boy was on the roof top with him.

"What are you doing up here?" he asked. "Aren't you supposed to be with Mikado Sensei?"

"We already reached a conclusion on my situation." Max replied simply.

"Conclusion?" Rito stated quizzically.

"This isn't my Japan," Max informed the older boy, "my home town doesn't even exist in this world."

"Eh?!" Rito shouted, "Are you going to try and get back to where you're from?"

"Probably not," Max said, "The world here is interesting and beautiful. In one day I've met girls with tails, an alien doctor, a plant that looks like a baby, a couple of girls with hair for weapons, and a boy at the center of it all. I never felt like I could chase anything in my world. Here I can pursue a goal."

"What goal are you chasing?" the older boy wondered aloud.

"Don't laugh." Max warned.

"I won't." Rito assured the younger boy.

"To be the strongest in the universe." Max mumbled with a hint of embarrassment.

"Sounds like something out of a manga." Rito replied but he didn't laugh.

"You're one to talk." The younger boy joked in reply as he gently punched the older boy in the arm.

The two burst into laughter as they realized how casual they were being when they had just met earlier that day. How the two had found themselves talking about ridiculous subjects like they were every day occurrences inexplicably amused the two teenagers.

Rito thought of how most people he talked to couldn't understand how it felt to be so out of place, but with Max it was different because he was even more out of place than anyone else the boy could meet. The younger boy had just appeared in this new world and rather than try to blend in he set a goal for himself that seemed to set him apart even more.

For Max, Rito was like an older brother with a respectable vibe and he sensed a desire to help others in him that he never got from the guys back home. Rito seemed like the kind of guy that just attracted people to him and befriended as many as he could while maintaining his sincerity towards all of them.

"Ah," Rito began as he got an idea, "do you have a place to stay yet?"

"No place other than Mikado's," Max answered truthfully, "and I'd honestly rather not take up a spot with all the patients she has."

"Would you like to stay with me?" Rito offered.

"Hm," Max thought aloud, "I wouldn't want to be a bother, and if you had a reason to be sleeping up here I'm not too sure how much rest I'd get."

"Ah haha… about that." Rito began as he explained the situation with Momo to the boy, including the bit about the Harem Plan as well as informing him that the sisters were actually princesses.

"She only did it for your safety?" the younger boy questioned skeptically.

"That's what she said." Rito replied dumbly, "The worry over Golden Darkness is definitely real."

"I wonder if that mysterious blonde girl was this 'Golden Darkness'? She did seem rather strong and someone Max would need to beat to become the strongest." Max thought to himself as he spoke, "Well then I'd be happy to if you'd have me."

"Great, let's go tell the others!" Rito stated as the last bell rang. Excited to have another boy under the same roof Rito smiled broadly.

Momo was leaning against the door and had heard every word of the two boys' conversation. Rito must have really wanted a guy friend that could understand the type of situation he was in. She concluded this because the brown haired high schooler had just told the new boy about the princesses, and offered him a place to stay, even though they barely knew each other.

She had to admit that Max was fairly interesting to say the least. He had just come out of nowhere and was already declaring that his goal was to be the strongest and befriending Rito Yuuki. Yaoi wasn't exactly something she wanted in the harem at this point, but a best friend type would surely help Rito's confidence.

"How cliché" the pink haired beauty mumbled to herself, thinking of Max as she hurried down the stairs so as to not be discovered of having eavesdropped.

She rushed to her locker and waited for the boys to catch up. As they approached she shifted back and forth and spun her hair around her finger. When they were within earshot she called out.

"Rito!" she called.

"Ah, Momo." He said separating himself from the conversation with Max just long enough to notice her, "What's up."

"You missed meeting Nana's new friend Mea." The pink haired girl informed Rito and noticed as Max tensed briefly at the name.

"Ah what a shame," Rito responded casually, "Maybe next time."

"I don't think we got to really say hello this morning," Momo continued, now addressing Max, "I'm Princess Momo Velia Deviluke."

"Max R… Max Lockton," the dark haired boy replied a little hesitantly, "is your head ok?"

"What?" Momo sounded shocked like she had just been snapped out of trance. The boy had omitted some part of his name, but she had barely noticed finding herself distracted by the face that had slammed into her head a few hours before.

"Your head," he repeated gesturing at his forehead, "I gave it a bit of a knock when I got startled this morning. Are you ok?"

"Um," the girl replied awkwardly, "Yeah I'm fine."

At that moment Rito's phone buzzed and as the boy answered shouting could immediately from the other side. The boy's posture and expression dropped until he hung up.

"Mikan said that I have to pick up more ingredients if you're staying with us." Rito explained pitifully.

"Sorry for the inconvenience." Max apologized rubbing the back of his head.

"It's no problem she'll hold it against me not you," the older boy informed, "sorry Momo could you show Max the way home for me."

"Certainly," Momo replied outwardly but internally she was disappointed to not be walking home with Rito.

Rito then sped off shouting something about catching up with them later. The two were left walking alone awkwardly. Neither knew what to say as the tension grew until it nearly became tangible.

"Um" they both started but neither finished.

"You really like Rito don't you." Max stated looking away.

"Where's that coming from?" Momo responded astounded at the forwardness of the statement.

"You seemed disappointed when he wasn't walking with us." The dark haired boy explained still facing away.

"You could tell?" the princess asked as her pink hair hid her eyes as she looked at the ground.

"I had a hunch." He answered sounding disappointed to be correct, but Momo couldn't quite figure why.

Momo continued to walk in silence as she wondered to herself how this guy, who had only just met her and Rito, could tell that she had feelings for her sister's fiancé. At first glance there wasn't much to him, but now that she looked at him she couldn't help but wonder what those eyes saw. She was about to say something to him when she realized the house was right up ahead.

"The house is right up ahead." Momo told the dark haired boy echoing her thoughts.

"Cool." Max replied seeming oddly ready for a change from the subject he started.

"So you aren't staying with Mikado?" she asked pretending she hadn't heard the boy's conversation with Rito.

"No," Max answered looking towards her, "I don't want to be a bother to her. With all the business she gets I think I'd only get in the way."

"That makes sense," Momo replied thoughtfully, "well just to warn you it can get a little hectic around the house."

"So I've been told." Max replied laughing.

"What's so funny?" the pink haired girl questioned.

"I just thought how weird it is that we just met and I'm moving in with you all." Max explained and continued laughing, "It's completely different from the kind of life I had at home and I'm looking forward to getting to know you."

Momo's face flushed red as she stuttered at what the new boy had just said, "O-oh."

"Ah sorry," Max said still laughing, "I mean all of you. Though getting to know you specifically will be fun too."

Momo couldn't help but smile as she thought how cute the boy appeared when he laughed. When he smiled genuinely she noticed a dimple appear in his left cheek. Her thoughts were interrupted by an explosion from inside the house whose gate they now stood at chatting.

"Wonderful first impression, everyone." The youngest princess mumbled sarcastically as she sweat-dropped.

(…)

Hey there again, so I laid a lot down in this second chapter so that I can get to the more fun and humorous parts in the following chapters. Next time look forward to how the Yui scenario would have gone if Max were around. I have some good ideas bouncing around and just to clarify, just because Momo may develop feelings for another doesn't necessarily mean she won't keep pursuing the Harem Plan for Rito. Hope you're all enjoying. Feedback is greatly appreciated.


	3. Chapter 3

**(********) = Scene/Location/Time Change**

Chapter 3: On your side.

"It smells like a pyrotechnics shop in here." Max stated casually as he and Momo entered the house.

"How can you be so casual about that sort of thing?" Momo questioned astounded as she turned towards the boy.

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean." The boy replied as his eyes twinkled with excitement from behind his glasses.

The pink haired princess was floored by the sheer joy conveyed in Max's eyes as she spoke, "I guess your eyes can't hide anything."

"Say something?" Max questioned, not having heard her.

"Nothing." Momo said flatly looking away to avoid the electric sparkle in the green eyes.

"Hm." Max replied just as a small girl in an apron came around the corner wearing an apron.

She examined the slender boy in his jacket before speaking, "You must be Max. I'm Mikan, Rito's little sister."

"Ah, sorry for the burden." The dark haired boy apologized with a small boy, "Nice to meet you."

"It's no issue, I just needed to give Rito a hard time about not asking me first," Mikan said glancing at Momo to see her gazing at Max intently, "and it looks like it might turn out to be beneficial for me as well."

Before more could be said another explosion from upstairs shook the house. A smile crept across the new boy's face. He kicked off his sneakers and ran upstairs to check out what had just happened. The dark haired boy hollered his thanks down the stair case, leaving the two girls standing at the foot of the stair case.

"He's not scared?" The brunette questioned looking at Momo in shock.

"Quite the contrary," the pink haired girl giggled, "he's excited about being someplace new."

"Well that's different." The younger girl stated flatly as she tried to determine if that was good or bad, "Since we have more people would you mind helping with dinner?"

"Not at all." The princess replied as she followed the younger girl into the kitchen.

 **(********)**

The sun had set on the new town and Yui Kotegawa sat in her bathtub with her face partially submerged as she thought about Rito Yuuki. He was constantly committing shameless acts that were harmful to the public decency of the school, but she could still never get him off her mind.

"Absolutely… shameless…" the high school girl muttered to herself before submerging.

"Even still," Yui wondered to herself, "I wonder what he's doing now…"

 **(********)**

At the Yuuki household chaos had ensued. Rito was being chased around by Nana for having another will-of-god incident when he went to fetch her, Lala, and Max after arriving home at Mikan's request. Now the high school boy found himself running for dear life through his own house while his new friend and his potential fiancé chatted.

"I can't catch a break." Rito hollered as he was chased by the second princess of Deviluke through the house, "Max can't you help?"

"I'm busy hearing about how you and Lala met," the dark haired boy replied lazily, "and besides, you did fall on top of her in a pretty perverted way."

"Not you too!" The older boy cried.

"So you're a princess from planet Deviluke?" Max asked casually returning to the conversation and ignoring his friend's plea.

"Yup!" Lala replied, "Dad is the current king of the universe."

"Mom handles most of the political stuff though." Momo added as she entered and sat on the smaller couch adjacent to the other two teenagers.

"Dinner is almost ready!" Mikan called from the kitchen, "Could someone set the table?"

"I got it!" Max hollered back.

The dark haired boy left the room to go find out exactly how the younger girl wanted the table set. The second Max was gone Lala cast a gaze over at Momo, who watched the boy closely as he left. The first princess tilted her head as she examined the look in her younger sister's eyes.

"Momo do you…" Lala began but she was interrupted as Rito ran into the room.

Before more could be said the high school boy, with unnatural habit of falling, tripped and tumbled head first knocking both Lala, and the couch she had been sitting on, over. Max re-entered with Mikan carrying plates of food to find the two pinned under the couch in a very provocative position.

"Get a room you two." Max sighed with a smile as he set the plates down on the dinner table.

"We aren't doing anything!" Rito insisted waving his hands in exasperation only to hear a wild moan and realize he was holding Lala's tail, "Ah! Sorry!"

"You're hopeless." Max laughed as Nana entered the room to find the scene.

"What are you doing to my sister you beast!" the enraged sister shrieked as she charged toward the two older teens squirming out from under the couch.

Before she could there however she found that her feet no longer touched the ground. Kicking about wildly the young girl realized she was being held off the ground by the collar of her shirt by the boy that had fallen from the sky just earlier that day.

"What do you think you're doing?" she protested, "I'm a princess! Unhand me!"

"Dinner is ready," Max stated flatly, "I don't care if you're a princess either. If you're going to let a meal that someone fixed for you get cold, then you're just being ungrateful. Besides don't you think that since Rito was running from you that it's partially your fault too? Also you'd probably end up making things worse. From what I've seen in the few hours I've known Rito is that the 'acts of god' get worse when more people are involved."

The dark haired boy finished his lecture with a sigh and sat the previously peeved pinkette down and continued setting up as all present watched in silence. The group was shocked, not only had the boy managed to defuse Nana, but he had also deduced the exponential nature of Rito's unnatural ability.

"What just happened?!" Nana, Momo, and Mikan all thought in shocked unison with gaping mouths, as they were astounded by what had just transpired.

"Thank you." Rito said with tears of joy streaming from his eyes as he broke the silence.

"You asked for help earlier and I didn't give it to you so that makes it my responsibility as well." Max answered with a hint of embarrassment as everyone sat down for dinner, "Let's just get to this delicious food. I'm starving."

"Thanks for the meal!" everyone shouted deciding to just accept what had just happened and dig into dinner.

After dinner the groups divided as the girls began their bath rotation and Rito showed Max to their room. The boy's walked up the stairs and straight to the one boy's room in the house.

"Jeez, you really saved me back there." Rito sighed with relief as they shut the door.

"No problem." The younger boy replied nonchalantly as he eyed the game console in the corner of the room.

Rito noticed the boy's gaze and answered the unasked question, "Oh that's the old console, we got a new one when Momo and Nana came to live with us so I got to keep the old one to myself."

"Got any good games?" the Max asked not breaking his gaze.

"Yeah a couple of fighting games, if you think you could beat me that is." The older boy answered challengingly.

"I don't think anything," the dark haired boy stated as his tone of voice changed, "I _know_ I could beat you."

"Pretty big talk for a new guy." Rito replied getting serious as well. Both boys wore expressions akin to manga delinquents.

Both boys rushed to the console. The two sat down gritting their teeth in monstrous smiles. Neither boy held back their competitive nature regarding videogames as they let their fingers fly. Shouting and rough housing followed every round as the two maintained a constant tie.

Downstairs Mikan and Momo couldn't help but sweat drop at the sound of the boys' intense showdown. Ignoring the noise they continued washing the dishes. Lala and Nana had opted to take the first bath and the other two decided to do the dishes.

"That new boy is something else." Mikan began plainly as she attempted to make conversation.

"Even I was shocked when he defused Nana with logic." Momo agreed, drawing a laugh from both girls.

"Still the fact that he just accepts all of this at face value… it's a little suspicious don't you think?" the middle schooler continued.

"You did the same thing according to Zastin and Rito." The pinkette recalled to defend the boy.

"But I saw with my own eyes." The younger girl protested.

"And he fell from the sky into a different universe." Momo defended before realizing what she had said.

"Another universe?" Mikan pressed.

"Well," the princess replied biting her lip nervously, "I'm not sure if it's a secret or not so I probably shouldn't repeat what I heard…"

"You already started so you might as well." The brunette pushed with more than mild curiosity.

"Well…" Momo repeated Max's account of his arrival and the mysterious figure that dropped him here, as well as informing Mikan that Max's hometown didn't even exist in their world.

"Oh," The girl replied curtly.

The rest of that night went by uneventfully. The next day the group headed off to school leaving Max alone at the house. During lunch break Rito went with Mikado Sensei to get the principal to allow Max to enter as a first year. After filling out the proper paperwork, it was decided that Max Lockton would start as a transfer student tomorrow. After school Rito stayed after to thank the alien doctor for her help and then left. As the boy was leaving he noticed that Kotegawa Yui leaving as well.

"Hey Kotegawa," The boy greeted as he began changing shoes, "are you headed home too?"

"Yes," the dark haired girl replied seeming a little startled at first, "where are Lala and the others?"

"Nana and her new friend Mea are hanging out, and Momo went with Lala to go do some shopping or something like that." The boy answered.

"Mea." Yui thought coldly remembering their encounter, "That's the red head that said she had wanted to ask Rito to lick her. How shameless can someone get?!"

"Hey," Rito began interrupting the girl's thoughts, "we're heading the same way so why don't we walk together."

"Don't you have to pick up Mikan?" Yui asked trying to hide her blush.

"No she went to clean up my Dad's place today." Rito replied, "I'm headed home so I can help Max with dinner since he offered to cook tonight."

"Max?" the dark haired girl asked tilting her head because she didn't recognize the name.

"Ah," Rito realized he hadn't introduced the boy to anyone yet, "he's a transfer student that's staying with us."

"Oh thank god it's a boy." The girl sighed with relief at the fact that "Max" was not short for "Maxine."

"What was that?" the brown haired boy asked not having heard.

"Nothing!" Yui replied quickly.

 **(********)**

As Momo flew home she spotted Rito and Yui walking together. The two had paused at the park and seemed to be reminiscing about something. The pinkette smiled and decided that this was the perfect opportunity to progress the Harem Plan. After setting the principal on their tail to keep the two together longer Momo simulated a rainstorm with her rain flower.

"There, now they have a reason to be alone in the house together." The mischievous girl commended herself before coming to the realization that they wouldn't be alone, "Crap! I forgot about Max!"

It was too late however; the two high schoolers had already entered the house. Inside they were in the middle of introductions.

"Ah Rito you're home," Max called as he walked around the corner to see his friend and an unknown girl completely soaked, "and you brought a cute girl home. Don't you think you're playing the field just a little too much?"

"It's not like that!" the older boy assured, "This is Kotegawa Yui, she's a friend from my class and we were walking home and…"

"You got drenched in some freak rainstorm?" the dark haired boy finished the statement, "Well your clothes are soaked, so you should change out of them or you'll catch a cold. I'll prepare extra food for dinner."

"Ah, thanks." Rito said smiling, "You should probably take a shower so you don't get a cold Kotegawa."

"Eh?!" the dark haired girl replied shocked by how quickly the two boys communicated.

"Don't worry I won't peek." The younger boy answered, "I'm Max by the way, nice to meet you Kotegawa-Senpai. Rito texted me and told me that I got accepted to your school, so I don't plan on pissing off the disciplinary committee before my first day."

"O-oh" Yui uttered in reply, "But wait how did you know I was on the disciplinary committee?"

"Hm?" the dark haired boy replied, "Oh that, I heard some students say you were a stiff, but you seem alright to me."

An imaginary dagger pierced Yui's heart as the boy walked away leaving her slightly depressed at what her fellow students had said about her. Rito laughed awkwardly at his roommate's bluntness before turning to Yui.

"Go ahead and take a shower," Rito instructed her, "I can't touch the girls' clothes, but I'll see what I can find for you to wear while your clothes are in the drier."

"Oh, um ok." The girl replied as Rito headed upstairs.

Yui headed to the bathroom, got undressed, and slipped into the tub while blushing at the fact that she was taking a bath in the same tub as Rito. The rain outside seemed to be coming down in full force as it hit the bathroom window.

"It wasn't supposed to rain today." The high schooler muttered to no one in particular.

On the other end of the house Momo was busy sneaking into the kitchen from the back door. She had just put up her force field and CGI illusion to set the mood, but there was one more thing she needed to do.

"Hey Max," the pinkette called to the boy in a low tone to not be heard.

"Oh hey Momo," Max replied not picking up on her desire for discretion, "You're home early."

"Eheheh, you could say I made new plans." The princess replied still trying to figure out how to get the boy out of the house.

"Harem Plans?" the green eyed boy inquired bluntly not looking up from the cook book he was reading.

"Yes, wait what?" Momo stated after a moment's hesitation.

"There was no forecast for rain," Max answered her internal questions, "of course that alone isn't odd, freak storms happen, but you're perfectly dry and you're home right after them. Not to mention the fact that it's still raining outside or at least that's how it appears."

"He's sharp." Momo screamed to herself in morbid humiliation at how she'd been figured out.

"Rito told me about the harem plan yesterday," Max continued, "So it wasn't that far of a jump."

"Are you going to stop me?" the princess asked worried if this new boy would become an enemy to her. An idea she dreaded for more reasons than one.

"Depends," the boy elaborated whilst adjusting his glasses, "why are you trying to form a harem?"

The pink haired girl hesitated before answering, "It would make everyone happy, there are a lot of people that are in love with Rito, and it would be best if everyone whose happiness depends on him could be happy."

"Including you?" the dark haired new comer asked a little sadly while avoiding eye contact, when he received no answer he continued, "Well then I guess I'll help you."

"What?" the princess stated shocked at what the new boy had just said.

"You're looking out for everyone else's happiness," Max explained as he turned toward Momo with a smile, "so I want to make sure you're happy too. You want me to leave the house so they're alone right? I have to pick up some ingredients from the store for dinner anyway."

The boy stood up to leave when he felt a small hand tug on his black jacket. He turned to see the princess, eyes downcast, holding on to him. The boy was at a loss for what was going on, so he remained still and silent until the girl spoke.

"This plan is botched anyway," the princess began while still avoiding eye contact, "Yui is probably already on edge about you being here and seeing her, and also calling her cute and telling her students were badmouthing her within five minutes of each phrase probably confused her emotionally, so I think I'll pack up this operation for safety purposes, but…"

"But?" Max inquired as he turned to the girl.

"But since you messed this one up you have to let me come with you!" Momo shouted looking up at the boy.

"Eh?" the dark haired first year was completely dumbstruck.

"I don't want to be stuck here with them so take me with you to the store." The princess commanded.

"S-sure?" Max sweat-dropped, "I need help finding the convenience store anyway."

"Let's go." The pinkette said as she stormed toward the door.

"What? Hey wait up!" Max shouted as he scribbled a note for Rito grabbed the grocery list and headed out the door after the suddenly tsun princess.

 **(********)**

The two walked in silence as Momo lead the way to the store. Steamed spilled out of Max's ears as he failed to wrap his mind around why the girl was with him. Before leaving the two had disabled the CGI and taken down the force field, but what bugged Max about the whole thing was that a girl that was trying to make a Harem for his new friend, with herself included as far as he could tell, was now exhibiting tsundere tendencies toward him.

"We just met there's no way she likes me so that's out…" The boy muttered through different deductions but failed to come to an answer.

"What are you muttering about?" the princess asked curiously having regained her composure and lost the tsun.

However, that was only externally that she regained her composure, internally Momo was screaming bloody murder about what had just happened. Not only had she completely botched an attempt for furthering the Harem Plan, but she had done it to spend time with a boy that WASN"T RITO.

"I love Rito-san." Momo assured herself mentally, "and there's no way Max likes me so… wait, why does it matter if he likes me or not? I don't like him! We just met there's no way. Geez, what's up with him though? Dropping lines about making me happy…"

The pink haired alien girl glanced over to see the boy concentrating intently on something to the point that steam was starting to come out of his ears before muttering to herself, "baka, don't just say stuff like that to a girl."

"Did you just say something?" the green eyed boy asked.

"The store is right up ahead." The pinkette answered.

"Ok cool," Max sighed in relief, "I just need a few ingredients."

"What do you need anyway?" Momo inquired.

"It's a surprise." The boy laughed.

"Oh?" the girl pressed now intrigued.

The two came up to the store. The neon lights had just been turned on as dusk fell on the city. The lampposts flickered on and their phosphorescent glow illuminated the faces of the two teenagers. The odd tension between them on the walk to the store fell away just as the sun dipped below the horizon.

"Wait and see." Max teased the princess as he walked inside the store.

Momo waited underneath a lamp post for the new housemate to return when suddenly she heard shouting coming from inside the store. Mea, the girl she had met the other day and had been introduced as Nana's friend ran out of the store carrying bags of what seemed like candy. Max was right behind her and trying to get her to come back when owner grabbed him and started shaking the boy furiously. The pinkette ran over to see what had just happened.

"Pay for you and your girlfriend's stuff right now!" the old man hollered at Max at point blank.

Momo's chest inexplicably tightened as she thought, "Max is with Mea?"

"I already told you she's not my girlfriend!" Max insisted, "I don't know her!"

"Whatever just pay up you stupid kid!" the owner replied furiously.

"Alright alright." Max relented as he reached for his wallet only to find that it wasn't there.

"Is there a problem kid?" the owner asked.

Max looked at Momo pleadingly as she walked over and spoke, "I'll pay for him and the girl."

"Not very manly of you makin the girl pay for you kiddo." The owner said looking at Max disapprovingly.

"Shut up." Max mumbled defeated, drawing a giggle out of Momo.

After the situation was sorted out the two began their walk home. Momo wore a smug expression on her face that disquieted the high school age boy to the bone.

"What are you so happy about?" Max inquired.

"Oh, just this." Momo answered as she victoriously held the receipt.

"You wouldn't." the boy shouted in disbelief.

"What's the flank steak for Maxy?" The princess replied with a scheming smile.

Max's posture collapsed in defeat to the point where the bags he carried almost touched the ground. The pink haired princess giggled and threw out a victorious peace sign while sticking her tongue out a little.

The two looked at each other's expressions and began to laugh as the continued the walk home. Upon arriving back at the Yuuki house the two entered to find quite the scene. Rito was wedged between Lala and Yui's breasts and appeared to be suffocating.

"Typical Rito." Momo mumbled sweat dropping.

"You're a busy guy, Senpai." Max quipped as he and Momo kicked off their shoes and headed toward the kitchen carefully stepping around the disaster zone.

"Dinner will be ready in an hour so find something decent to do until then." The boy added as he ducked into the kitchen to fix a meal for this new group of friends.

(…)

Whew this was a long one and I still feel like a few moments are rushed. A longer chapter warrants a longer after thought I think, so I'd just like to let you all know a little about how I write these chapters as a bit of a self-analysis. If you aren't interested then just skip to the last one where I'll say more about the story.

So I write these on a two sitting minimum basis. The first time I sit down I crank out as much of the story as I can. Then in the second sitting I try and clean it up and tweak word choice here and there. Because I don't have a proof reader as of yet I do both parts alone and I'm still liable to miss a few things here or there, but because I do it myself it also gives me time to adjust the story through the process as well. This chapter took a few tries which is why there's a bit of a delay in its release.

Story wise, so remember how I promised a Yui in this chapter? Yeah I forgot about that until about half way through. Whoops. But I think it turned out well and the next chapter will start out with finishing off the night and dinner. And before you jump to conclusions I'll clarify that Momo hasn't fallen for Max, yet. She's at the point in a crush where it's there, but you don't admit to it. This is why she gets a little tsun in this part of the story. Sorry if that's too OOC for you, but I think letting characters develop like people do, situationally that is, is what makes fanfiction so fun to read and to write. That's more than enough out of me for today. See you next time.

P.S. I write this last part exactly how I would say it, so if it bugs you feel free to skip it or skim it.

AH


	4. Chapter 4

**(********) = Scene/Location/Time Change**

Chapter 4: First day

"MEATBALL HOT POCKETS?!" Momo spouted in astonishment.

"Ohhh these are good." Her older sister Lala stated, already having begun to dig into the meal.

The group began to eat while Momo glared daggers at Max. The boy simply replied with the same victorious smile that the pinkette had worn when she held the receipt. She then begrudgingly bit into the meal she had been kicked out of making half way through.

"Oh didn't I tell you?" Max gloated, "I was picking up ingredients for tomorrow night's meal."

"Oh you're cooking tomorrow too?" Mikan asked while enjoying the meal.

"Yeah," the dark haired boy answered, "I want to do something in return for you guys letting me stay with you for free. I used to read a lot and I read a lot of cook books since I lived pretty much by myself, so I figured I could help you with meals."

Nana turned toward Rito and wondered aloud, "Why can't you be this decent?"

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Rito shouted in offended protest.

All the while Yui sat watching the group laugh and horse around. She couldn't help but feel out of place. All the people here were so free with their thoughts and open to each other. Even the dark haired boy, Max, seemed to fit right in and he had apparently just arrived yesterday. She couldn't help but think the group looked like a family with the casual and familiar air about them. It was then that a nudge brought her back to her senses; she looked to see the dark haired boy looking right into her eyes with a broad smile.

"They're all really good people Senpai," Max began, "I just showed up and they took me in."

"Y-yeah." The upperclassmen replied nervously at speaking to the boy.

"I think you're a good person too. You just need to smile a little more honestly." Max continued, "Because I get the feeling that if you were honest with your feelings, all of them that is, then you'd be able to see how these people can be like this. From what I hear you always speak your mind, but how much of that is what you really want to say."

The girl was speechless, a boy that she had just met was answering a question she hadn't even asked herself yet, "So do you know what makes them all so happy and carefree?"

"Yep!" the boy replied with twinkling eyes, "it's kind of cheesy, but it's each other. You should join the fun. You'll see what I mean."

Before the dark haired girl could reply a plate of food smacked her face. She was about to shout, but then she saw the perpetrator was none other than Celine. The green haired girl rocked back and forth clapping her hands.

"Kotegawa… are you ok?" Rito asked timidly.

"Y-yes." She replied while the boy tapped her on the shoulder.

As she turned her eyesight was obscured by a flash that left her blinded. When she regained sight she saw the younger boy holding a phone with a teasing smile.

Yui was embarrassed beyond belief, and about to shout, when she remembered the younger boy's advice to join in on the fun. She reached for some more food from the table and threw it at Max hitting him right in the face. The room was stunned into silence. Max grinned ear to ear as he reached for something to throw back and grabbed some meatballs from his plate.

The food fight that ensued bordered on hysteria as even Lala pulled out Mr. Food Food Maker to fuel the fight. Mikan had been protesting when she was hit in the back of the head by Nana and following that all bets were off. Momo sat baffled until a small meatball hit her face leaving a red mark of sauce. She turned to see Max smiling at her through the chaos.

"Would you like to join us your highness?" the boy taunted, "or is this below your royal morals."

"It's true that a princess would never get her hands dirty," the pinkette began, "but they also never step down from a challenge."

Momo flung a banana from her sister's generator at the dark haired boy like a boomerang, but the boy artfully dodged. The two were at war, they joined the others in the battle royale until everyone was a mess and the room was a disaster zone. It was past curfew so Yui got permission to spend the night, and Mikan tasked the boys with cleaning up the living room while the girls rinsed off and got ready for bed.

"That was a lot of fun." Rito began while scraping food off the wall.

"Yeah," the younger boy replied cheerfully.

"And who would've thought that Kotegawa could act like that…" The older boy trailed off.

Max turned to see the older boy seeming to be thinking about something. The boy smiled at his job well done. Not only had he managed to get Yui to come out of her shell he had gotten Rito to notice.

"You never know what secret sides people have to them." Max said as he hummed.

The two boys finished cleaning earlier than expected. The girls were out of the bath, so the boys decided to go hop in. The two sat and relaxed after cleaning up. Steam relaxed the boys, while cleaning the mess up had been easier than expected they were still exhausted. Rito was the first to get out. He left the younger boy a set of clothes to wear since his only set was in the laundry. Rito entered his room and laid out a futon for his younger boy and got into his own bed. The brown haired boy passed out instantly.

Meanwhile, downstairs quite the event was unfolding. Momo snuck into the bath and saw a clean set of sleeping clothes that she recognized as Rito's she quietly slid the door shut behind her. Just as she was reaching for the door to surprise Rito it slid open on its own and revealed Max standing on the other side. Both of their faces flushed red as they both realized what had just happened.

"Rito already left!" Max said as he slammed the door, but not before Momo got quite the eyeful.

Noticing how uncharacteristically flustered the boy was Momo seized the opportunity to tease him, "Aw, why are you wearing a towel."

"Because I was drying off!" Max let out an exasperated sigh as he slid down the door, "The better question is why you DON'T have one."

It was just then that the pinkette looked down and realized that Max had just shut the door for her sake. She had dropped her towel before she went to open the door. Her face turned an even brighter shade of red as she let out a squeal and dropped covering herself.

"How much did you see?" the girl asked quietly,

"The steam filled the room so I didn't see anything." He lied.

"Really?" Momo asked with a sniffle even though she knew just as well as he did that it was a lie.

"Really." The dark haired boy reassured her.

"That's good." The princess sighed.

The two sat in silence with their backs against the same door. Both sat in uncomfortable silence. Max was pinned in the bathroom and Momo was still too embarrassed about what had just transpired to leave.

"You were pretty flirtatious with Yui even though you said that you'd help me." The princess asked not wanting to sit in silence.

"I was?" Max inquired back.

"You even took her picture…" Momo stated meekly which drew a laugh out of the boy on the other side of the door, "What's so funny?"

"I've been here a day and I don't even have my wallet with me from home." The boy laughed, "That wasn't my phone."

"Then…" the pink-haired princess racked her brain for answer.

"That was Rito's phone," explained Max, "and he doesn't seem to know how to change the screen saver, so I set it to Yui-Senpai's face."

"Won't that just cause problems?" the girl replied turning to look at the door and the silhouette of the dark haired boy.

"But Yui knows I took it, and I'm sure she'll recognize it and just remember what I told her." Max reasoned.

"Told her?" the purple eyed girl pressed.

"That's between her and I." the boy informed the pinkette, "Just know that it got her to join the food fight, and that Rito even said she seemed different and seemed to be thinking about her."

"Wow," the princess sounded surprised from behind the door, "you're good."

"I wanted to make it up to you." Max stated hurriedly, "That's all, I just felt bad about messing up your plans and for tricking you about the food."

"By the way," Momo recalled the events of the evening, "how do you know Mea?"

"I don't," the boy replied with a half lie, "I just didn't want her to shop lift. I did meet her at school on my first day, but I'd hardly say I know her. She told me that shoplifting was how she always got food. I hope she's ok"

Another pang hit Momo's chest tightened at these words of concern for the red head. Momo cursed herself mentally. She couldn't understand why she had felt lonely when Max had paid so much attention to Yui or to why she felt sad when the dark haired boy seemed concerned about Mea. She had just met him AND she loved another.

"This is getting out of hand." The princess thought as she stood up to leave.

"Hey Momo." Max called and his tone of voice stopped the girl in her tracks. It was sweet and caring.

"Hm?" the princess replied hesitantly.

"Never mind." The boy dismissed his own statement, "See you tomorrow."

With that the girl left and the boy entered the second room and got dressed. The next day the group walked to school together with Yui. That morning Max had left early to go check out the school and fill out the rest of the paper work with Mikado Sensei, but when the group got to school Max was nowhere in sight.

The bell rang for class to begin and it didn't seem like the teacher was going to be announcing a new student. Momo sighed with the relief of not having to be around the boy that was keeping her attention a majority of the time, but did feel a little disappointed that the new boy wouldn't be in her class.

It was in this moment that a knock came at the class room door. Mikado Sensei entered the classroom accompanied by a reluctant boy. Max wore the standard school pants like the ones Rito wore, but on top he wore the black zipped up hoodie he had been wearing the first day he arrived. It was just then that the school nurse turned and saw the boy was wearing it.

"Didn't I tell you to take that off already." The woman pointed out before hitting the boy on top of the head.

"Yes, but…" the dark haired boy began, but the woman's glare silenced him, "yes mam."

Max took off the jacket revealing that the boy actually had some muscle to him. He wore a short sleeve white collared shirt, standard to warm weather uniforms, with the top buttons unbuttoned revealing a black shirt underneath. The short sleeves revealed that he was actually more toned than the hoodie let on. This fact earned an instantaneous swoon from the girls of the class.

"What are they swooning at?" Momo mumbled to herself as she reimagined the toned nature of his torso, "It's the rest of him that's really surprising…"

No one seemed to hear her, but when Momo looked up she caught the dark haired boy blushing and dodging eye contact when she looked at him. The princess smiled at the new power she had over him with the knowledge she had about a majority of his body.

"Would you please introduce yourself to the class?" the teacher urged.

"Ah, sorry." The boy apologized nervously as he adjusted his glasses, "I'm Max Lockton. It's a pleasure to meet you all."

"Very good," the teacher stated, "Now let's find you a seat. Ah look there's one right back there."

The boy followed the teacher's gesture and saw that the seat directly behind Momo was empty. The boy couldn't help but laugh and sweat drop at how cliché this was turning out to be, but before he could finish that thought he noticed three other people he knew in the room. Momo's sister Nana, the girl from the rooftop and candy store called Mea, and the blonde girl that had also appeared on the roof.

"Is there an issue?" the teacher asked.

"Ah no, sorry." Max replied as he finished walking toward his seat.

The dark haired boy took his seat and class began. The lessons were easier than the one's the boy had taken in his world. The teacher caught Max dosing off a couple times and tried to catch him off guard but the boy read the board in an instant and provided a solution.

"He's actually a lot smarter than I thought he was." Nana thought after one such incident.

Mea on the other hand was concerned about the boy for other reasons. He knew her secret and could easily blow her cover and end her life as a human. She still needed to work on getting Yami to return to being a weapon in order to please Master. If only she could keep the boy from exposing her until the assassin could arrive then she would be content.

Momo was also on edge since the boy had been added to her class. Not only was he smarter than she had expected, but he also seemed to be popular. When first break came Max was instantly swarmed by the girls of the class.

"You live with Momo and Nana?" One girl asked.

"Yes." Max replied awkwardly having been caught off guard by the ambush.

"Are you an alien too?" another girl inquired.

"Nope." The boy answered.

Momo watched for a minute before standing up in a huff and leaving the classroom. She had other things to worry about. The Max situation had distracted her, but the problem with Yami potentially killing Rito was still very real. The princess twirled her hair while she walked deep in thought until her thoughts were interrupted by a tap on the shoulder.

Momo turned to see Max looking at her intensely, "W-what?" the girl stumbled.

"You were about to hit that pole." The boy answered pointing in the direction the pinkette had been walking and there was in fact a pole less than a foot away.

"T-thanks." Momo said weakly.

"No problem." Max replied as he walked past her.

"Where are you headed?" the princess called after him, "Weren't you hitting it off with those girls?"

"To see Rito," Max replied walking up the stairs towards Rito's class, "he invited me to meet all of his friends."

"Ah," the pinkette stated shifting side to side before realizing he dodged the question, "and what about those girls."

Max paused at the top of the stairs, "They remind me of the people that didn't like me back home. They'll get tired of me soon enough, so I see no point in forming any bonds."

The pink haired princess was taken aback as she saw a side of the dark haired boy she had yet to, but before she could speak Nana came shouting dragging Mea in tow.

"Oi! Momoooo, Maxxxxx." She called down the hall.

The two waited until she arrived shortly about of breath before replying. After a moment the animal loving girl caught her breath and smiled.

"This is my friend…" the young girl began, but she was cut off by Max.

"Mea the candy thief." The boy retorted looking at the red head and remembering the scolding he got.

Mea giggled at this, "So you remember?"

"How could I forget such a memorable first encounter." The boy replied coolly, "I'm off to see Rito."

"That's the same place we're headed!" Nana exclaimed, "Let's all go together to see the beast! Personally I don't want to go but Mea was curious."

"Ah well I'll just let you all go then." The more plant inclined princess began before being pulled by her sister, "You should come too."

"You're oddly pushy today." Momo commented as Nana dragged her along.

"Hmm, I suppose I do feel a little different. I've been happier lately." Nana responded as the two pushed past Max and up the stairs.

"The first time we met?" Mea asked.

"Sure why not?" Max replied simply, "I get the feeling that the golden haired girl and I are the only people that know you aren't human right now, and it's none of my business that you haven't told anyone. So we can just leave it at that."

"You're weird." The red head declared with a smile as she walked up the stairs.

"I'll take that as a compliment." The darker haired boy answered as the two walked to catch up with the others.

 **(********)**

Meeting Rito's friends went as well as to be expected. Yui helped introduce Max, before Rito tripped and pulled her skirt down that is. The entire time Max spent figuring out exactly who liked Rito and who didn't. In spite of some dead ends the boy got a pretty good idea of how large scale Momo's harem plan could turn out to be.

Momo spent most of the time pondering over the strange thing Max had said about his past on the staircase. Her thoughts were interrupted by narrowly avoiding getting caught up in an incident but not before deciding to ask the dark haired boy about his past. After the narrow escape Lala had pulled out an invention, but luckily before the item could be used and subsequently malfunction the bell rang. The four underclassmen said bye to their Senpai and ran off down the hall.

The rest of the day passed relatively uneventfully. Max was promptly added to the genius tear of the first years, much to his disapproval and objection. Nana and Mea chatted all through lunch while Momo snuck off to do who knows what. Yami sat and observed the new boy cautiously before leaving to go meet with Mikan. Momo on the other hand couldn't stop thinking about Max and the comment he had made. The princess resolved to find out sooner rather than later. At the end of the school day when everyone was heading home Max went to go pick up his jacket from the nurse.

"Looking for this?" a female voice cooed.

The green eyed boy turned to see Momo step into view and noticed that she was wearing his jacket. His eyes widened at the sight. His shoulders were broader that hers so the jacket was significantly baggy and the arms were slightly too long, but nevertheless Max couldn't helped but feel his heart skip a beat as he thought about how cute she looked.

"W-w-what are you doing with that?" he finally managed to stammer.

"Ohh~ nothing." The princess replied sweetly.

"C-can I have that back?" Max asked still choking up as he was red in the face at the idea of a girl wearing his jacket.

"Note to self," Momo thought with a smile, "Max is generally guarded and hard to read, but when you catch him off guard he becomes completely different. If you wear his jacket then he gets really embarrassed and cute. Wait, what am I thinking?!"

"Please?" Max pleaded again interrupting Momo's thoughts and slowly regaining his composure.

"Depends." The pinkette responded cutely, "Will you do something for me?"

"Depends." Max returned evenly though still blushing, "What is it?"

"Tell me about your past." The princess requested while hiding her smile with her hand in the oversized sleeve.

"Ah never mind you can keep it." The dark haired teen answered dismissively as he began to walk away, "It looks cute on you anyway."

Steamed shot out of Momo's ears as the tables had been turned on her. She now seemed to realize that she was wearing his jacket even though it had been her idea. All the details of the jacket crept into her mind. The boy's scent and imagined warmth was wrapping around her making her blush deepen.

"Ha, two can play at this game princess. If you try and embarrass me I'll throw it right back at you." Max thought as he turned and saw the effect of his words and then her sudden realization.

The princess noticed a smug grin forming on his face as she chastised herself, "He's trying to distract you. I won't let him best me. What to do… What to do…"

It was then that she received a flick on the forehead and realized that while she had been lost in thought the boy had moved closer and his face was now the same distance from hers that it had been when they first met.

"Don't get me wrong about this," the boy began as he backed away and turned his back toward her, "I really do think you look cute in that. My past isn't all that interesting, so don't worry about it."

The pink haired girl was speechless. The boy smiled sincerely at her and she cast her eyes downward. The past would have to wait until another day. The two walked out and walked home together.

Later that night in the middle of the woods however a meeting that would spell danger for the peaceful life the group was leading had landed. Mea stepped out of the shadows to greet the blue haired assassin. The two greeted each other and parted with distaste for the other.

"So that's the assassin Azenda." Mea spoke to no one in particular.

(…)

Heyo, yet another chapter up for this. I'm enjoying reading your comments and hoping that I maintain a pace for the story that you all enjoy. I'll try not to make it too slow. Next chapter will be titled "A Chilling Past" so look forward to a little of the background (or all of it. Jury is still out on that matter) on our good buddy Max. You'll also get to know a little more about the story's title (maybe, please don't hold me to that.) I hope you're all enjoying please follow and/or leave a review if you're enjoying. See you next time!

-AH


	5. Chapter 5

**(********) = Scene/Location/Time Change**

Chapter 5: Don't mess with friends or family

"I was really surprised to see you outside of school today Yami!" Mikan said as she walked beside her friend toward the park.

"I wanted to go get taiyaki with you." The blonde explained as the two picked a park bench.

"I'm glad," the younger girl replied, "Where do you get the money for the food anyway?"

"Secret." The former assassin responded quickly.

"Eh? No fair!" Mikan complained even though she was still smiling.

"So how have you been Mikan?" Yami asked in between bites of taiyaki.

"Well," the dark haired girl began, "Max moved in with us a couple days ago, so now Rito has a friend. He's also a pretty good cook! You should come over for one of his meals sometime."

"Max?" the golden haired high schooler questioned blankly.

"Ah he's new to town," Mikan explained, "I thought you would know him because he's in the same class as you. Anyway, ever since Max showed up things have been a little different around the house. Momo stopped going into Rito's room and if you ask me I think she has a crush on Max."

Yami didn't hear the last bit of what her best friend had said because she was wrapped up in remembering how the boy had been with Mea that first day. If the boy was a spy then Mikan and Rito could be in trouble.

"Oh and don't tell anyone this," the blonde's friend continued, "but I heard Max and Rito talking about another world that's a lot like this one. I think that's where Max is from. I didn't really believe Momo when she told me, but they were super serious about it. Though Max wasn't very forthcoming with details."

"Another earth?" the high school girl responded plainly while she was shocked a little internally, "I've read about something like that in the library. Do you believe him, Mikan?"

"Hmm," the younger of the two took a moment before responding, "Yes because Max doesn't seem like the kind of person to lie. I haven't known him that long, but that's what I think."

"Then I'll believe Mikan." Yami stated to herself.

Mikan paused before shaking off her confusion and spoke again, "I'm sorry for just talking about myself Yami-san. Are you doing ok?"

"I'm fine." The girl lied as she thought about everything with Mea and her recent struggle with being a weapon.

"Oh yeah!" the brunette shouted as she pulled out matching taiyaki keychains, "I got these so we could match!"

As the two talked on the bench they failed notice the presence watching them from above. A blue haired woman sat plotting her revenge on the assassin named "Golden Darkness" and now that she had just seen this scene she knew just how to go about it.

Back at the Yuuki household Max and Rito sat completing homework in their room. Max was breezing through his as smoke bellowed out of his upperclassman's ears at the first problem. Max finished and looked over to see his Senpai lying on the ground in defeat.

"You're a little pathetic Rito." Max teased as he looked over the boy's work, "I was learning this in primary school."

"Eh?!" Rito exclaimed shocked as he imagined a tiny Max solving multivariable problems, "Are you by chance a genius?"

"Not by a long shot. I was the dunce of the class back then." The younger boy responded as he left out the part that before he was put into public school he was in a class of two,

"What kind of school did you go to in your world anyway." The brownish haired boy inquired to his kouhai.

"Shouldn't you be doing your homework?" the dark haired boy nagged and just as he said so a disappointed tut could be heard from the other side of the door.

"Will you help me then?" Rito pleaded as he recollected how poorly receiving help from Lala had gone.

"Fine." The spectacled boy relented as he adjusted his glasses and sat down beside Rito.

Within an hour the two cleared every single problem and the explanations that Max provided actually made sense to Rito.

"He may not want to admit it," Rito thought as he looked at Max as the boy explained a problem, "but he's actually really smart. Maybe even smart enough to rival Lala."

"Are you listening?" Max inquired annoyed with Rito zoning out as they got to history.

"Ah sorry, can we take a break?" the elder boy asked hesitantly.

"Sure." The dark haired boy sighed.

The two stood and left the room. When they entered the hall whoever had made the noise earlier was gone. Just as the two entered the living room the phone rang and Rito ran to answer it. Afterwards he said he had to run an errand and to tell Mikan that he would be back after doing something for their dad real quick.

"I don't quite get what just happened." Max thought aloud as Rito left, "But it is nice that he has such a good relationship with his Dad."

"Oh?" a female voice chimed, "Do you not have a good relationship?"

"Who knows." The boy stated rhetorically as Momo entered, "Maybe I'm a disgrace, maybe I'm a prince, hell I could even be an orphan for all you know."

"You're such an ass." Momo huffed in frustration.

She had found herself increasingly more comfortable around Max. Earlier that day they had eaten lunch together and discussed Momo's Harem Plan until Mea and Nana joined them and the subject turned to more meaningless high school banter.

"Should a princess speak in such a manner?" the boy inquired in mock horror.

"I'm at home I can talk however I please." The pinkette replied continuing with the joke as she sat down at the opposite end of the couch from the boy and propped her feet up in his lap.

"Whatever you say your royal highness." Max responded as he switched the TV on and ignored the fact that she was acting very familiar with him.

"If I keep getting close to him like this then he'll drop his guard and tell me about himself. That's certainly the only reason I'm acting like this. Yeah, I'm just curious that's all there is to it. Not romantically interested in him one bit. Even still… why isn't he noticing…" Momo assured herself mentally as she stared at the dark haired boy watching TV.

Max abruptly stood up and turned the TV off. Momo detected a change in his mood as his normally bright eyes darkened to a shade of green very unlike the normal emerald color. The boy walked over towards the door and grabbed his jacket. Momo had still been wearing it that day as the condition on getting it back was for Max to tell her about his past, but he didn't seem to care as he slipped his shoes on. The small blue sparks that his black sneakers emitted went unnoticed to the pinkette princess as she found herself unable to look away from the boy's troubled expression.

"Where are you going?" the princess inquired.

"Out," the dark haired boy answered, "I'm going to the park. I need some fresh air."

The boy left the house shutting the door with a slight slam. Momo tried to figure out what had changed the boy's mood, but she could come to no conclusion. Suddenly the princess's phone started to vibrate interrupting her thoughts. When she checked it she saw that it was a program she had borrowed from Zastin's ship. The defense program that had been set to warn of combat in the local area was notifying her of a commotion at the nearby park. Currently a fight between Yami and another assassin was unfolding as the feed showed Yami being battered with a whip. In the background of one of the images Momo saw Rito lying unconscious and Mikan in a trance like state.

The pinkette sprung up as her face darkened in anger. The girl pressed a button on her phone and in a bright flash her outfit changed to her Devilukean attire. She had to get to the park and resolve the issue before Max could get there. Saving Rito and Mikan as well as keeping Max out of danger would surely protect all her friends.

Momo slapped her flip phone shut as she took one last look at the enemy before leaving with the statement, "That blue haired bitch is going to regret attacking my friends."

The pinkette raced toward the park with her wings. She didn't bother looking for Max as she was certain her flight was faster than the boy even if he had run full speed, but as she approached the scene a cloud of dust erupted. When she arrived the picture in front of her was beyond anything she had yet seen.

Rito sat back with his jaw seated in his lap out of relief because he had just been saved. The assassin named Azenda the tyrant had been about to end the brown haired boy's life when in a flash and a plume of smoke Max had intercepted the blade and stopped the woman's full force rush forward with the palm of him hand. The whole world fell silent and eerily still as blood trickled down the boy's hand and dripped to the ground. The woman jumped back and wore a gnarled expression.

"Who're you?!" Azenda snarled in outrage.

"I'm the brunette's Senpai, this chump's close friend, and I don't know the blonde girl that well but she's his friend so attacking her pissed me off too." Max replied evenly, "The name is Max Lockton and I'm the guy that's about to ruin your day."

"Such insolence!" the bluenette shrieked in outrage, "Do you know who I am?!"

"No," the boy replied taking off his glasses and handing them to Rito, "and frankly I don't care. I was sitting at home relaxing next to a cute girl when suddenly I got the odd feeling that someone was messing with my friends. These people are pretty much my family now, so I don't appreciate whatever you're doing to them. I had known there was a dark presence in town, but you were too weak to bother with so I let it slide, but know you've gone and pissed me off."

"I'm weak you say?!" the woman exclaimed in an outraged cry, "I have just singlehandedly taken out the strongest assassin in the universe."

Azenda continued to seethe with hatred toward the boy. She became so focused on her animosity toward the new comer that she could no longer maintain her control over Mikan's body. As the girl dropped to the ground beside Golden Darkness Momo rushed to them. The princess decided to observe for the time being and jump in as soon as Yami was healed.

"How did he get here so fast?" the princess mumbled in disbelief as she used plants from her phone to provide first aid to both Yami and Mikan.

"Yes," the dark haired boy replied to Azenda's statement with potent venom oozing from his voice, "You managed to use a hostage to enact a one sided beat down on a girl with her best friend. Assassin or not you're a despicable excuse for a life form."

Azenda had finally had enough of this boy's smart mouthed arrogance. Momo, Yami, and Rito all looked on from their positions at the two in worried anticipation, but no one observing expected what they were about to see.

Just as Azenda lunged forward Max disappeared in a flash and appeared beside the woman before she had managed to move more than an inch. The boy's feet never touched the ground as he spun midair and kicked her sideways. The air around him crackled with static as he crossed space unprecedentedly fast and kicked the woman into the sky before she could hit a tree in the park. Azenda was sent into an ark through the sky dumbfounded as her view of the moon was suddenly obscured by the appearance of the boy yet again.

"Who are you?" she managed to choke out before the boy flipped midair again to build up momentum in his kick. His foot connected with the woman's gut and sent her plummeting to the ground forming a small crater upon impact.

Momo could only sit in awe and attempt to process what she had just witnessed. The boy she had just met that claimed to be an earthling had just used the same fighting style as her father. She had only ever seen it in videos, but she was certain that the dark haired boy that had just entered her life had the same power over electricity that her father possessed.

Rito sat still only for a second before his eyes locked with Max's. The younger boy motioned with his head in the direction of Mikan and Yami. The brown haired boy snapped out of his daze and nodded before running to his sister's side as if to say "Thanks, but we're so gonna talk about this instead of home work."

After Mikan started to wake up Momo immediately ran over to Max. It was only after the dust had settled that the pinkette had realized how worried she had been. The fact that Max could manipulate electricity was certainly something she wanted more information on, but the entire time she was fixing up Yami, Mikan, and Rito all she could think about was that she wanted to hear the dark haired boy say he was ok.

"Hell I'd even go for one of his stupid sarcastic retorts." Momo thought to herself as she ran to where the boy sat watching the knocked out Azenda.

He turned away from the unconscious assassin as the girl approached and the two locked gazes. Max broke the gaze first, which made the princess a little sad, but she ignored that feeling and stepped forward as the boy greeted her while maintaining his crouched position.

"Well," Max began awkwardly, "You know one of my secrets so I guess the jacket is mine again."

"Max." Momo murmured with such a tone of voice that the boy's heart melted. The expression in her eyes was a mixture of concern, curiosity, and genuine affection.

For the first time Max felt his normally guarded heart skip a beat. No one had ever really been concerned for him before, and now this beautiful princess that he had only met recently seemed to care for him. It was almost too good to be true, as Max gazed up at the girl in the pale moonlight she seemed more beautiful than the boy had ever noticed before. He couldn't grasp why she cared so much, but he felt himself fall for the beautiful girl all the same.

"I'll tell you all about my past. I promise." The dark haired boy informed the girl while avoiding her gaze, "But for now we should just be happy that everyone is safe."

"Are you ok?" Momo whispered her question looking concerned over the boy's hand.

"It's just a scratch." Max informed her with a grin.

Momo was overjoyed at the words. She lost control of herself and hugged the boy wrapping her arms tightly around his torso and burying her face in his chest. The princess didn't give a second thought to the fact that Yami, Rito, and the recently awoken Mikan were watching closely. Nor did the teenager consider the fact that she had recently been in denial about feeling anything serious about the boy. She had labeled as him a friend up to this point, but even she knew that you didn't worry this much about "just a friend."

She felt her pace quicken as Max wrapped his arms and spoke, "I'm flattered that you worried so much about me princess."

"Idiot, who would worry about you?" the princess asserted even though she refused to unlatch herself from the boy until she was brought back to reality by the awkward cough of Mikan.

"If you two want some alone time we can go." Mikan said with a wry smile as the two blushed and quickly terminated their embrace.

Mikan and Yami exchanged glances and Yami seemed to nod in agreement about something only the two of them knew about. Rito sweat dropped at how easy it got to go back to acting normal after one of these incidents.

"Rito weren't you doing something for your dad?" Max reminded the boy as he sought for an idea to change the subject.

"Ah crap!" Rito shouted as he ran off, "I'll be home in an hour, save me some dinner!"

The dark haired boy sighed and turned to the incapacitate woman, "Now what to do with you."

"I've already called Zastin to come pick her up." The princess informed Max, "We should probably wait around."

"Eh?!" Mikan exclaimed, "I have to go home and cook, and we need to fix Yami's clothes."

"Then take her home with you. We just won't have left overs." The dark haired boy advised the brunette, "I'll stay here with Momo until Zastin arrives."

"With your midnight snacks we never have left overs anyway." The pinkette teased the boy.

"You knew?!" Max interjected in complete shock at the statement drawing a laugh from the three girls.

"Max Lockton." Yami stated.

"Yes?" the boy responded still dejected over being joked.

"Mikan said she trusts you," the blonde said awkwardly, "and now I do too. You aren't my target so I won't kill you."

"Uh…thanks I guess." The green eyed boy responded.

Yami nodded to herself in approval for her promise not to kill someone, and so she and Mikan headed for home to patch up Yami's clothes and get started on dinner. Even after nearing crisis the two walked and talked as if nothing had happened.

"Don't do anything indecent to him Momo~!" the brunette called back before heading out of earshot.

"Eh?" the princess managed to yelp as she was mortified at what the girl had just said.

She nervously glanced at Max who looked back at her with a confused expression. Suddenly her face felt hot and it felt like steam was flooding from her ears as if her head were a tea kettle. The boy looked confused at what the younger girl had meant and looked to the pinkette for explanation.

"Why am I getting like this?" the girl wondered to herself, "So I like him more than I was willing to admit before but…"

Max cleared his throat to draw Momo's attention before speaking with a deep blush spread across his face, "So um… are you… would you um… can you show me around town this weekend?"

"S-sure…" Momo replied as the same shade of crimson that coated the boy's face spread to hers.

"Inviting the princess on a date?" a male voice said, "You must be stupid or fearless."

"It's not a date!" both of the teenagers said simultaneously.

"What?" a silvery grey haired man exclaimed as he emerged into view, "But the boss educated me on the different ways boys ask girls out."

"That's just in manga!" Momo shouted at the man, "Don't let Rito's Dad give you such distorted views. You've been spending way too much time writing manga with him Zastin."

"Well I must know the groom-to-be's family." The man defended himself, "But you there boy. If you seek to date King Deviluke's daughter you must go through me first."

Max eyed the man curiously before Momo responded for him, "Zastin, he has a power similar to Dad's and is the one that defeated Azenda."

Zastin went pale before completely changing his tone and speaking, "Oh of course, welcome to the family. Nice to meet you! Can I call you second groom-to-be?"

"Absolutely not!" the princess yelled at the captain of the guard, "Just take Azenda and go!"

"Look it really isn't a date… though I wouldn't really mind…" Max mumbled awkwardly and a little hurt at the Momo's complete refusal.

The man lifted the assassin onto his shoulder and disappeared in a blur as he was teleported to the Devilukean ship orbiting the earth. After that the two were left alone again in the park. A cool breeze blew causing Momo to shiver. Max took off his jacket and draped it around the princess's shoulders.

"Ready to go home?" the dark haired boy asked.

"Y-yeah." Momo replied with a slight blush returning to her face.

"Then let's go." Max concluded.

Mea sat observing the two from the roof of a nearby building. The red headed girl pouted as she saw the two walk off leaving the scene of the failed plot to convince Yami to return to fighting.

"Don't pout over this," A mysterious voice commanded, "We just got to witness quite the event."

"I couldn't detect a signal drop of strength in the boy when we met." Mea booed, "No fair. He's going to make sure Momo's Harem Plan wins."

"You needn't concern yourself with him." The voice informed the girl, "Even he will pale in comparison to the power of Darkness that is sealed inside Yami. I also sense another power that I intend to convince to ally with us."

"But…" Mea began to argue but the presence left her alone on the roof top, "I want him on our side…"

(…)

Hey there again, it's me the lying author. So I kind of lied, emphasis on kind of, but I hope you'll forgive for the sake of putting more information on Max's world in a pseudo chapter or even in the chapter were he and Momo go out together. I will say one thing about Max's world in that it isn't our world. In fact, the TLR world is actually more similar than the other earth. Oh hey lets refer to it as OE from now on because that's fun and simple. As for the title, I felt like I should change the title because the focus of this chapter wasn't really the past. Next chapter though I am going to try and get more background out of the way so we can have a little comedy for a couple chapters. Also tell me what you think about the fight scenes please. If you have any suggestions for them it would be a great help. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. See you next time!

-AH


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Rain on the First Date

(Warning: a tad more romance in this chapter than normal and it's long)

Max and Momo both sweat dropped as the whole group walked stood between them. After telling everyone that Momo would be spending her day off with Max and showing him around town almost everyone they knew had decided they needed to go as well.

"Last I checked I asked Momo to show me around as thanks for patching me up." Max said with obvious annoyance, "So why are you ALL tagging along?"

Between Max and Momo stood Mikan, Nana, Mea, Lala, Rito, Yui, and even Rito's classmate Haruna Sairenji and Yami had tagged along last minute after meeting them as they toured the small borough of Sainan. The group took up a good amount of the space in the train car as they rode to the next town.

"I was planning on going out anyway." Mikan insisted.

"I go with Mikan." Yami added for herself.

"I was planning on hanging out with Mea. I'm not here for you." Nana huffed.

"I wanted to bug Max and Senpai so I dragged her along." The red head giggled.

"There's a Magical Kyouko event today!" Lala beamed like a child.

"She dragged me along too." Rito followed with obvious sadness at not being able to enjoy his day off.

"I didn't have any plans today and Lala invited me when we ran into each other." Haruna Senpai explained, "Sorry if it's a bother."

"Oh no you're fine." Max assured her before the next person explained their presence.

"As head of the…" Yui began before being interrupted.

"Yeah-yeah, you're here to prevent any shameless deeds." The entire group said in unison.

"Good you understand!" the brunette upperclassman said with a triumphant smile.

"You all are the ones that don't understand!" Max in Momo thought simultaneously.

The train arrived at the station and the group filed off into the larger part of the city. The buildings seemed to be a couple stories larger on average compared to the buildings closer to the house.

"Alright!" Mikan called everyone's attention as they got off the train, "First order of business is clothes."

"Eh?" Max asked taken aback, "What's wrong with my clothes."

"You wear pretty much the same thing whenever you go out," the brunette explained, "you look like a manga character. You need more outfits of your own. You can't just borrow Rito's all the time."

"But my clothes are fine the way they are for now," the black haired boy reasoned, "besides I don't have any money."

"Hehe," the young girl wore a grin of victory as she held up a credit card, "I told Mom about you and she said no one who dressed like that could stay. She gave me permission to use the credit card."

"You're kidding." Max replied in defeat at the sight of the black card in Mikan's hand.

"It won't be that bad," Momo informed the boy, "In fact I think it could be kinda fun."

"Fine." The green eyed boy finally relented.

After a chorus of new excuses the whole group decided they would tag along. This just made the dark haired boy laugh at how predictable his friends were. As the group walked along looking for a good store Momo and Max managed to drop to the back. Everyone was too busy talking amongst themselves to notice and make a big deal about it.

"This has turned into quite the gathering." The princess giggled.

"Well at least it works out in your favor." The dark haired boy sighed.

"What do you mean?" the pinkette asked genuinely confused.

"No one will confuse us for a couple." Max explained, "You got mad at Zastin for it, so now you don't have to worry about anyone else getting the wrong idea."

"You're an idiot…" Momo mumbled, though she wasn't sure if she was talking to Max or to herself.

"Say something?" the high school boy inquired.

"No." the girl replied avoiding the boy's gaze.

Max was about to push, but he noticed the privacy the two had maintained for a moment was penetrated by the gazes of Mikan, Mea, and Nana. The three girls seemed to be watching the two intensely. Max sweat dropped as the three looked away when they realized he had noticed. A minute or two later the group came upon a nice looking shop. Max was dragged into the shop where a plump woman awaited them.

"I'm Nora." The woman introduced herself in a slightly husky voice.

"We're customers! This boy needs new clothes." Mikan replied showing the woman the card and shoving Max forward.

"Hi." The boy greeted with an irritated tone.

"No no no this won't do." Nora said as she looked the dark haired boy over.

The woman currently judging Max for his clothing was round in many definitions of the word, but Max did feel the need to admit that she dressed well. He cut his eyes around the store to see several other sales agents all miniscule and dainty in contrast to the woman that was manager of the store. The woman grabbed Max jolting him from his thoughts as she pulled him toward a dressing room and threw him in the dressing room.

The next thing Max knew he was being paraded about in different outfits. When Mikan was satisfied the group paid and left the store. Leaving Nora grunting in approval at her handiwork as Max had been forced to leave in the last of the outfits. Nora had tossed his solid black hoodie aside and replaced it with one that was black with electric blue sown in. The boy didn't dislike it, but he felt that it was a little flashy.

Everyone had thoroughly enjoyed the fashion show with at the first year's expense. Rito had fallen on the floor in laughter at more than one outfit. Lala and Haruna promptly took Rito to receive his own makeover and bid farewell as they dragged Rito out for his own dose of humility. Momo seemed to enjoy the event as well, she laughed at the look of embarrassment on Max's face. Mea and Nana took pictures of the more ridiculous getups devised by the fashionista. While this went on Yami informed the other workers at the store of all she had learned about fashion from reading. Mikan had let out a sadistic giggle as she watched the boy's mortification progress into humiliation.

"She can be really scary." Max warily thought to himself.

The group of now six walked along the street examining the stores. Max fell to the back of the group yet again when suddenly he felt a tug on his sleeve. He turned to see Momo motioning to follow her. The boy's only response was a confused look before the pinkette gave up and grabbed his arm pulling him into a run. The two ran in the opposite direction of the group as the princess led the boy through the throng of commuters and visitors.

After several turns the two arrived at an empty riverside park. The teens had effectively lost the group and put several blocks between themselves and their friends. The park was empty and the sky grayed overhead. Exhausted, the two slowed down and came to a stop.

"What was that about?" the dark haired boy asked as he attempted to catch his breath.

"Here." The princess replied thrusting out a shopping bag the green eyed boy hadn't notice she was carrying.

"I thought we paid extra to have all the outfits but one delivered to the house." Max stated in confusion as he received the bag.

"Open it," the girl said as she refused to look her classmate in the eye, "This was supposed to be the two of us going out, so I wanted to get you something… you also did save Rito, Mikan, and Yami for me…"

Max opened the gift to find a nice looking single strap back pack. It was white with black accents though out. The boy opened it to find his old jacket inside and he couldn't help but smile.

"It's made of pretty breathable material and is water and shock proof…" the princess continued.

"Shock resistant?" Max inquired.

"It conducts the electricity that gets fed into it into a battery in the bottom of the bag, so it can also be used to charge things. I ran out and bought it while you were being harassed by Nora and then I asked had Lala add that feature…" the princess elaborated.

"This must've cost a fortune." The dark haired boy stated in disbelief.

"Lala had already invented the technology for a father's day gift so it wasn't an issue." The pinkette told the boy, "and it's not like money is hard to come buy as a princess."

Max smiled and walked over to the girl as he put the backpack on and gave Momo a hug before holding her in close proximity. The princess's downcast eyes turned to gaze up at the dark haired boy's bright green eyes. Her heart beat accelerated as she realized how close the two were.

"Thank you." Max smiled at the girl with his eyes as he spoke, "For the back pack and for saving my old jacket. I'll make sure to repay you and everyone for how kind you're being toward me."

"You don't have to thank me or get me anything…" Momo replied as she blushed and looked away, "besides it was Lala that went home early to make all the clothes you just got safe to use electricity in."

"At your request." The dark haired teen pointed out, "How do you all know how to do that sort of thing anyway?"

"Lala copied the techniques used in adjusting all of Dad's clothes." The girl replied still blushing at the closeness, "Your power is similar to our fathers to say the least. The way you fight is more of a combination of ability and physical technique than just overwhelming power, but that was the only difference I noticed."

Max was about to point out that the fight had lasted a total of thirty seconds and that the girl had extraordinary analytical skills for being able to figure that much out even though he had been moving at the average speed of an electron around an atom, but before he could say anything droplets of water started to fall. The two ran to find shelter underneath the bridge beside the park as the rain steadily came down harder. Just as they stepped under the sky opened up and rain began falling with torrential force around them. Max and Momo slid their backs down the wall until they were sitting. The two looked at each other to see how successful the other had been in their escape from the rain.

It was then that Max finally noticed what the girl was wearing. She wore a black shirt with red laced into the hemming. The shirt had a little frill in the chest and on the short sleeves. The top went very well with the short white skirt the girl had worn in accompaniment. In her hair she wore a white flower pin that contrasted with her purple eyes and pink hair. Max felt his face turn red as he examined the girl. In part for having actually learned something about fashion in the two hours he spent in that god forsaken store, but mostly for the fact that he couldn't take his eyes off the beautiful girl in front of him.

Momo found herself checking Max out the same way he was looking at her. He wore a white t-shirt that stuck to his chest from the sweat of running and the rain water. The boy also wore a pair of black jeans that fit well and complimented his overall appearance while still being relatively baggy. Momo noticed the jacket was the black and blue version of the seven that Mikan had purchased with different color schemes. He also wore a gray flat cap on his head that highlighted the dark black color of his hair and the bright green of his eyes.

Steam shot out of the ears of both teens as they realized what they were doing and the two quickly looked in opposite directions. They sat in silence for several minutes listening to the pounding beat of the rain on the bridge above.

"Momo," Max began as he watched the rain that pummeled the earth, "I want to tell you about my past."

"Really?" the girl replied astonished that the boy would be fulfilling his promise so soon, "then let's go find the othe-"

"Just you." The dark haired boy interrupted as he turned to face the princess.

"Why just me?" Momo asked as the words made her heart skip a beat. The idea of sharing a secret with the boy she had met a little under a week ago excited Momo as she felt unfamiliar warmth radiate from her chest.

"I'll be blunt," the green eyed boy stated as he stared deeply into the princess's eyes, "It's because I like you, or at least I think I do. We just met but since then you've become someone important to me. The other night after I saved Rito I sorta realized it I guess. You were concerned about me even though you've known me less than a week and that made me happy. I've never really had anyone worry about me like that… You also have a deep compassion for your friends. You'd do anything for them and even though you plot and scheme your ultimate goal is everyone's happiness. Sorry this probably doesn't make much sense, but I mean it when I say that I like you Momo Velia Deviluke."

Momo felt her temperature rise as a puff of steam shot out her ears at the boy's words. It was true that they had just met, but she felt the same sincerity from him that she felt from Rito. He was also smart and caring and could probably have any girl at the school.

"Why does he have to confess to me?" Momo thought to herself still trying to rap her mind around it all, "I was having a heard enough time sticking to loving Rito without this... no… I like him too don't I… but there's no way I could tell him that… what about the Harem Plan… I suppose one less person wouldn't hurt… I'll tell him I feel the same but then what…"

Momo struggled with herself in silence. She knew she had feelings for Max, but they made her feel different than the feelings she had for Rito. The question was which one of them was love, but in this question she realized there was another problem.

"Do I still have the same feelings for Rito as I did before I met Max?" the princess questioned herself, "I haven't been sneaking into his room because Max was there, but is that the only reason? I think I like Max… and not Rito…"

Momo began to speak a reply to the boy's confession, though rushed she knew that she did have feelings for Max and the fact that she even could question her feelings for Rito showed which was stronger. Of course she planned to still create a harem even though her happiness no longer depended on it. Before the girl could confess her discovery to the boy he began to speak again.

"I know you like Rito and I don't plan to get in the way of that," Max informed the girl, "but I still want you to be the first person I tell about my past because of how I feel about you… I still plan to help with the Harem Plan too, but when it comes time for you to-"

Max's next words were cut off as the princess pressed her lips to his. The boy's eyes widened before softening as the unspoken words settled in.

"I like you too Max… wait, what's your middle name?" the pink haired girl realized she had never been told, and he had likely never told anyone other than the teachers, "Is that why you went to school early on your first day!? So no one would see it!"

"No! Well…. MAYBE!" the dark haired boy replied energetically as he was still in shock from the kiss, "Ugh let's just start there."

Momo sat down up against Max's side and pressed into his warmth. The rain still poured down around them and the water rushed by in front of them. With no signs of letting up or stopping the boy figured it was now or never to tell someone in this new world who he was.

"My full name is Max Ruairi Lockton." The dark haired boy began in a defeated tone as he waited for a laugh that never came.

The pinkette only drew up underneath the boy's arm and affectionately cooed, "Ru~"

"Huh?" the boy replied blushing at how cute the girl was acting.

"Can I call you Ru?" Momo looked up pleadingly into the boy's eyes as she asked.

"…fine…" Max relented knowing that even though he would regret it later he couldn't say no right now.

After waiting for a content sigh before the boy continued, "As you probably already guessed my earth isn't like yours at all. That's not to say everyone has powers and abilities and what not, but I'm not abnormal. Our society is ruled by the King Of The World who just so happens to be the strongest man in the world. How original right? Well this King has a daughter named Ella, and rather than challenge the King people instead tried to attack her. I was a little more than a street rat at the time. I was young and my parents were neglectful. They were never home because they hated seeing each other, and I hated seeing them so I ran away."

"You ran away from home? How old were you?" the princess inquired during a brief pause.

"I was about seven years old at the time when I ran to our nation's capital to fend for myself." Max answered, "When I got there however I wound up almost starving due to the fact that I couldn't find a job. I should've just gone home, but I think even now that I would have rather starved than go home."

Rain pummeled the earth as Max got into telling the story, "That's when this nicely dressed girl walks by the alley I was in. She was referred to as the Ice Princess because of her ability to freeze water vapor in the air, but she was also given that name because of how stuck up and self-important she was."

"Real charmer." Momo commented sarcastically.

Max laughed and continued, "I was hobbling out of an alley as she walked by. The girl looked dead at me and turned her nose up at the sight of me. That got my blood boiling, so I screamed at her about how just because she had money and power she didn't have the right to look down on others."

"Pretty big talk for a seven year old." The high school girl pointed out in amusement.

"One is never too young to be dissatisfied with their position in the world." The dark haired boy responded, "I'm pretty sure that pissed her off because the next thing I remember is being in jail. Of course I didn't care; I got a room, a bed, and food. Yelling at that snot nosed brat was the best decision I ever made. After a week or so a man came by and opened my cell. He asked me if I was dissatisfied with my position in life. I told him I was and he offered me the chance to change it."

"What was the chance?" Momo inquired.

"To become the princess's loyal royal bodyguard." Max stated with amused and slightly bitter bluntness, "I declined, but then he told me that I would have access to everything I needed to change my position in life. I took the offer and for several years I lived life as a guard. I learned everything I needed to and then some. I spent my time either training with the older knights or studying on my own in the library. I lived happily for several years and I even became close friends with the Ice Princess."

"What was her name?" the pinkette pressed wanting to know every detail.

"Sarah Parker, ah and since you're probably wondering, most names in my world are English derived. It has to do with some higher likelihood of having a power in our world." The teen spoke in a very professor like fashion, "But back to a brief version of my life, I failed at my job in the end. An assassin slipped past the guards and attempted to assassinate the princess. She failed, but because I was in charge of the guard-"

"You were in charge of the entire Royal guard?" the girl asked in pure astonishment.

"Yeah, I had proven to be the strongest, smartest, and most diplomatic guard by age ten. It's not that great of a feat in our world. The King did it by the time he was eight." The green eyed boy informed the girl as she snuggled up to him under his arm.

"Your people can be pretty intense." Momo stated.

"You're dad tried to blow up this planet because Rito pissed him off a little." Max retorted.

"Hehe point taken, please continue Ru." The pink haired high schooler urged.

"So because I was head guard I accepted full responsibility." The dark haired boy recalled as he blushed at the nickname, "I was told it wasn't my fault by everyone around me, but I couldn't see how it wasn't my responsibility. I had put the guards in the wrong place. So I left the palace and quit using my power. I had sent money home to my parents so they could afford to send me to school when I got back. They had lived nicely on that some and resented me for quitting. They both lost themselves in their jobs again and grew to hate each other and me even more. As for the kids at school, well word spread that I didn't fight. I was bullied and battered every day for a while until they got bored after a year."

Momo's hand tightened around Max's shirt as he told her about the painful period of his life between the attempted assassination and falling into this world. The boy was very reluctant, but the princess pushed to hear every detail. Even when she began to cry the pinkette urged Max not to stop. At the end of it all the two sat in silence. Momo was horrified at the way people had treated the dark haired. Teachers even refused to stand up for him because they had knowledge of the attack on the princess and Max's failure to prevent it.

"You only ever said you never felt like you couldn't pursue anything…" Momo managed to mutter.

"I couldn't," Max answered sadly, "everyone would have worked against me."

"Why don't you hate people?" the purple eyed girl interrogated as she sat up and turned to look the boy in the eyes, "No one would blame you."

"What would that solve?" the high school boy replied, "I had already isolated myself. Harboring resentment would only make life harder, and even if I did harbor any resentment towards those people then that would have nothing to do with you all."

"You're too good a person… but do you have any idea why you were sent here?" the princess stated as she leaned in closer to the boy.

"I think it was so I could reconnect. To remember what it was like to be happy and have a goal. And maybe even so I could meet you." The boy smirked as he answered and leaned in towards the pinkette.

The two locked lips for a second time. Sometime during the story the storm had stopped and now the sun was setting. After the kiss Max gave Momo his old jacket, to keep this time. The girl knew about his past, so Max wanted her to have something important to him like his jacket. Momo slipped on the jacket and the two began to exit the park.

"Why is this jacket so important to you anyway?" the princess asked as she wrapped her arms around one of Max's and the two walked through the streets.

"Hm." Max pretended to ponder, "That's a story for another time."

"Eh? You're no fun Ru~" Momo pouted.

"Pouting won't change the situation your highness." The boy teased.

"Humph!" the princess huffed in discontent.

The two made their way back to the station after night fell and met up with a very displeased Mikan and company. Just when she was about to start lecturing the two of them she noticed something was off about what she was looking at.

"Why are your arms linked?" Mikan asked, "And why is Momo wearing your jacket Max? Where have you two been?"

"Well…" the dark haired boy began but before he could explain anything Momo had cast Mikan a mischievous glance, then proceed to stand on her tip toes and Max a kiss on the cheek.

"Just know that next time it really will just be Max and I going out." The girl said eyeing Mikan, Mea, and even Nana then she proceeded to board the train leaving everyone present, including Max, dumbfounded. The rest of the group quickly hopped on the train and settled in for the ride home.

(…)

Whew, this one was another fairly long one… I'm going to go through it carefully and check for any errors, but in some cases I don't notice them until a day or so later. I'm currently in the process of finding all my errors in the earlier chapters so just watch out for that. Sorry that's a pretty big problem of mine. I'll try and get better about it. I promise you that once I catch up in edits I'll only allow a week Max between the first publishing and the language edit. I know that I should probably just take the time to be careful in the first place, but I also want to put out the content and plot for you all. So if it really bugs you and I don't seem to be getting better then just wait for the second update. So, story wise this chapter was pretty loaded. Yes Momo and Max are together. I wanted to put it off longer, but I also felt like there's some stuff I can pull with them as a couple. And Momo is not at all willing to share Max so don't expect a harem plan for him. (Note this does not mean other girls won't be interested nor does it mean there won't be flags.) Unlike with Rito her affection goes beyond the lust, not that there isn't any but I'm not planning on a lemon chapter. Can't wait to write the next chapter! See you next time!

-AH


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: To Make a Friend.

When the group returned home, Max fixed dinner using the steak he had been marinating since the trip to the convenience store. In the other room Mikan and Nana sat staring down Momo. Both would have sworn she had feelings for Rito, but then she obviously revealed her feelings for Max at the train station. The pink haired princess sat smiling awkwardly as the two watched her silently.

"What are you up to?" The dark haired girl asked accusingly.

"I don't know what you mean." Momo replied feigning ignorance.

"A week ago you were sleeping with the beast." Nana pressed her sister, "And now you're off running away with Max and… and… and KISSING HIM ON THE CHEEK!"

"Fufu. More than just on the cheek. Not that you'd know much about that, oh sister mine." The youngest princess teased her twin sister.

"WHAT!" Mikan and Nana screamed simultaneously in shock.

"Y-you b-b-barely know each other." The brunette girl argued as she blushed at the thought of the two teenagers kissing.

"Yui Senpai would definitely say you were being indecent!" the pinkette continued to shout as her face turned red as well.

"Why does it matter so much to you two, hmm?" Momo asked them with a mischievous smile, "I'm not sharing him if your interests lie in that direction."

"OF COURSE NOT!" the two shouted in unison at the girl's accusation.

"Oh? How silly of me. I forgot that you both have interests in Rito." The princess responded as she dominated the conversation she couldn't help but smirk.

Max couldn't help but sigh as he heard the bickering from the other room. He was certain Momo was deflecting the topic from herself back to the other girls and rendering them too embarrassed to pursue the subject. Interrupting his thoughts was the sound of someone entering the kitchen. The boy turned to see Rito.

"So um Max…" the brownish haired boy began but he was cut off.

"After dinner." Max assured, "I wanted Momo to be the first to hear about my past, but I will tell you."

"How'd you know that I wanted to ask about your past?" Rito asked.

"I didn't," the dark haired boy answered as he continued to cook, "but it's the fastest way to get everything back to normal."

"Can things be normal?" the older boy asked sadly, "I mean… Mea and her master sent an assassin after her own sister."

"Of course they can." Max replied, "You said that Yami changed, so I see no reason why Mea can't. Is something bugging you? You seem like the optimistic type, but you're being a bit of a downer."

"I guess it feels like I'm always being saved." Rito answered truthfully and sadly, "Until you came along it only bugged me a little, but I want to be there for at least one person…"

"You're joking." The underclassmen turned the heat on the stove down and turned to look at his brother figure, "You've saved every single person in this house."

"What do you mean?" the older boy asked in confusion.

"Everyone that meets you. The reason that they stay around and the reason why they do everything they can to protect you. It's because they want to repay that kindness that they see in you." Max informed Rito, "I'm done talking about this sappy stuff for now. If you want to learn to fight then I can teach you, but don't look down on yourself for not being the same kind of strong, you'll find another way to show your strength."

Rito was stunned at what the boy said. Not only had the boy agreed to take the time to teach him, but he had also told Rito that he had his own strengths. It was then that both boys noticed the noise from the other room had ceased.

"Eavesdropping is a little unsophisticated, don't you think?" Max sighed as Rito walked over and opened the sliding door the teens had installed so the house would no longer be treated as a race track.

"Eh?!" Rito shouted as a dog pile of girls tumbled into the kitchen, even Lala who had just arrived downstairs had apparently been listening in, "Were you all listening to us?!"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Nana said from the bottom of the dog pile as she looked away and tried to deny the obvious.

"Oi oi do you think that's convincing anyone?" the dark haired boy wondered in awe at how flimsy the lie was.

"We were just waiting for dinner." Mikan added wearing the same expression on her face as Nana.

"Could you please pick a less blatant lie?" the green eyed boy sweat dropped as he responded to the comment internally.

"Onee-sama was just showing me a new stretch and we fell over." Momo lied as she nervously fiddled with her hair.

"Mmhmm Mmhmm!" Lala nodded aggressively in affirmation as she over compensated with eye contact.

"Are you all joking? Please tell me this was a joke." The teen thought in disbelief as his Senpai spoke.

"Well if that's the case then that's ok." Rito smiled as he accepted the explanation drawing a relieved, albeit stunned, sigh from the girls.

"Oh so that's it." Max concluded as a light bulb went on above his head before he returned to cooking.

"What's it?" the brown haired boy questioned the younger boy.

"You're hopeless!" the dark haired boy replied with a smile and enthusiasm that didn't align with the harshness of the declaration in the slightest.

The group laughed at Rito's expense. Max finished preparing dinner shortly thereafter, and the night passed without any real commotion. The group took bathing rotations and headed off to bed. Rito and Max stayed up slightly later to discuss the younger boy's history, but when that conversation concluded the house fell dark.

A full moon rose above the house as two small feet crept across the floor. The floorboards moaned as curses fell in breathy whispers. A nervous sweat broke across the girl's forehead as she snuck down the hallway in the dead of night.

"I don't know how Momo does this without waking anyone," Nana complained as she moved toward the boy's room, "I can't turn back though… I need to know if Max and Momo really kissed."

"Oh Nana," a male voice came from behind, "What are you doing up?"

The pinkette princess stiffened in shock as she stifled a shout before turning to see Max standing behind her.

"I could ask you the same thing!" the girl shot back.

"I couldn't sleep so I went on a walk." The dark haired teen answered simply.

"In the middle of the night?!" the princess inquired at disbelief as the boy was still in sleeping shorts and a black shirt he had picked out.

"No time like the present." Max responded plainly, "What are you doing though?"

"Nothing!" Nana huffed before storming past the boy and returning to her room.

"Good night?" the teen uttered in confusion at the odd turn the conversation took.

The next morning the group got ready to head to school. Max left early saying only that he had something he wanted to check about this world's timeline. History was the one class the boy was not completely proficient in as the boy had memorized a completely different order of events, but he was sure that once he studied enough he would bring up his B to an A.

"You're such a perfectionist." Momo chided as the boy left.

"Not really, I just hate being wrong…" Max muttered to himself after he shut the door and set off.

During first break Max ran off to the library. He had been unsuccessful in finding the book he was looking for, but resolved to find it this time. Momo tried to follow him, but was quickly swarmed by the boys of her class. The girl watched through the crowd as the boy's back disappeared.

The dark haired boy perused the books in one of the libraries isles when suddenly he heard voices from the next isle over. He identified the voices as being Yami and Mea. He couldn't tell what they were talking about, but he could discern from the tone of voice that it wasn't something the two were in agreement on. Suddenly, he heard one of the two leave. Max turned the corner to see Yami standing alone.

"What do you want?" the golden haired girl asked accusingly.

"I didn't eavesdrop. Or at least I didn't hear anything other than the sound of your voices." The teen responded adjusting his glasses, "Can I say something?"

"Sure." The girl replied dismissively.

"I may not know a lot about siblings, but from what I do know it doesn't quite end well when the older one says something about the two not understanding one another." The boy explained.

"So you did hear." Yami glared daggers at the eavesdropper.

"No, it was just a lucky guess." The green eyed boy put up his hands in defense as he put on an awkwardly nervous smile.

"So what are you saying?" Yami pressed to end the conversation.

"You should watch after her a little," Max responded seriously, "so nothing you'll feel responsible for happens."

"Fine." The blonde replied before walking away.

That day in gym class it was swim day for the girls. The guys on the other hand were stuck with running. Max beamed as all the other boys sighed in defeat. Heat beat down on the track as the male part of the class sat in defeat.

"How many laps do we have to do?" the dark haired boy inquired.

"Eh?" the teacher responded in shock at the question, "Well you're health standards say that you're supposed to be able to run a couple miles so just about eight laps around."

"Got it, and after that we can do whatever right?" the teen continued to quiz.

"Eh what are you saying Max?" One boy asked from the crowd.

"Yeah man don't you feel how hot it is? You'll be exhausted before you can finish." Another piped up from the back.

"There's no girls to impress so what are you acting so cool for." A third remarked with a bitter tone.

"I'm not the one that needs to impress anyone." Max fired back, "I just want to run, so what about it sensei?"

"Um sure I guess if you run it then you're free to go do whatever you want." The teacher answered thoughtfully as he made the deal.

"Great, then I'll be off." The dark haired boy declared as he started running.

"Who does he think he his?" the boy that had been called out muttered as he watched Max run effortlessly around the track at a surprising speed.

"Wait… anywhere right? Even the pool?!" another boy realized.

At that very moment a unifying sense of brotherhood brought the boys together. The deal Max had made gave them a chance to see the girls of their class in their bathing suits. The teacher realized in that same instant that he had made a terrible mistake, but before he could say anything the students had taken off running in formation with good pace.

When the green eyed boy had finished the teacher walked over to give the student a hard time for the position he was in, but as he approached he realized the boy had barely broken a sweat, an impossible feat in the sweltering heat that baked everything on the track, the teacher however had watched the boy complete all the laps and had even lapped the other boys multiple times.

"You've put me in quite the position." The teacher finally said putting aside the odd detail about the boy.

"Why?" Max inquired, "You can just up the requirements for freedom next time. Give them an incentive and they'll do just about anything."

"Eh?!" the teacher exclaimed as he had not thought of that, "Did you plan this?"

"Maybe. You see, I've given the guys a chance to see the girls and I've given you a means to improve their physical standing. I get a good run out of it myself too so it's a win-win-win situation." The boy explained to the teacher, "If I planned it that is."

"You're a weird one." The teacher commented as he thought through the teenager's scheme.

"I'll take that as a compliment." The dark haired student replied.

The class ended up finishing the lap in time to rush to the pool, but by the time they arrived the girls had already gone in. Max and the gym teacher sweat dropped at the teen's simplicity as the group resolved to do better the next day before heading in. The group changed and met up in the class room. As Max sat down three boys approached him.

"Yo…" the first one began, "we're sorry for calling you out in gym earlier."

"We didn't know that you weren't just acting cool." The second boy added as he awkwardly adjusted his awkwardly sized glasses.

"We thought you were just being cocky, but you were actually helpin us out. And you're like super-fast so that was pretty cool." The third finished for the group.

"It's no big deal. To be honest I just wanted to run, so there's no need to apologize." Max responded as he recognized the boys as Masashi, Rokuro, and Takumi.

"Eh so you didn't do it for us?!" Takumi exclaimed in astonishment.

"No sorry." The dark haired boy apologized for the misunderstanding.

"Well either way, you're a pretty cool guy and we didn't give you enough credit." Rokuro continued as the other two nodded in agreement,

"Oh." Max replied as he was caught off guard, "T-thanks."

"You should join the track team! You definitely lead us to victory this year!" Masashi insisted with enthusiasm.

"Oh that's ok…" the teenager declined not wanting to attract attention as a track star.

Momo watched the scene from the door to the classroom. The dark haired boy was entirely offense. When it came to other people taking the initiative or being kind to him he fell apart. Max had just made some friends, even if he didn't want to admit to it, the boy was connecting with others in the class. It would be good for the boy who was lonely in his past life. Her thoughts were interrupted by the bell as class resumed.

When lunch break began Masashi, Rokuro, and Takumi moved to resume their conversation with Max, but before the group had managed to get out of their seats Momo had stood and run off taking the dark haired boy with her.

"What was that about?" Masashi asked the others as he adjusted his glasses.

"No clue." Rokuro replied blinking as he wondered if what he just saw was real.

"You guys don't think…" Takumi started to speak but never bothered to finish the thought.

"Hey you three!" a feminine voice shouted at the three boys, all of whom turned nervously to see an angry brunette they recognized as Makoto, Akiko standing at the forefront of a pack of angry girls, "What did you say to make Max leave so quickly?"

"Eh?!" the three replied incredulously, "We didn't do anything! He ran off with Momo."

"No way!" Akiko shouted before turning to Nana who sat brooding in her desk, "Nana what's your princess's relation to Max?!"

"Dunno." Nana replied absently before standing and leaving after taking a look at Mea's already emptied desk.

The princess lead Max to the roof top before both of them sat down to relax. The day was beautiful; unlike on the track the roof top received a gentle breeze curbing the potency of the heat.

"I'm all for running and especially spending time with you." Max laughed as he sat down, "but how about a little warning next time."

"I didn't want you to get swarmed by your fan club before we could get away." Momo explained.

"Fan club?" the dark haired boy replied quizzically, "Do you mean the guys?"

"No! The girls that always swarm you at lunch." The pink haired princess huffed.

"Hm? You mean Akiko and co." the teen replied thoughtfully.

"First name basis, hm,?" Momo glared out of jealousy at the boy for coming up with a name for the group, "you won't even come up with a nickname for me…"

"I just thought it was a clever name." Max chuckled sheepishly as he spoke. He seemed to not have heard the last part the princess had mumbled.

"You don't seem so opposed to our classmates anymore." The girl huffed.

"I realized that this isn't my world, so just because they remind me of other people doesn't mean I shouldn't give them a chance." The boy reasoned.

"Attention whore." The pinkette muttered as she turned her back to him.

"You're one to talk. Word on the street is that you have a school sponsored fan club." Max responded as he lay down.

"Ah, them." Momo dead panned as she recalled the embarrassing group of fans.

"Yeah them." The boy smirked at the opening.

"No fair I can't control them I told them not to do anything." The princess pouted as the dark haired boy burst into laughter, "Ru you jerk…"

"Hey don't just call me a jerk because I'm right. You're just as popular, if not more popular, with the guys than I am with the girls." The green eyed teen sighed.

Momo poked Max's face before standing up and walking over to the railing and speaking, "You really hate being wrong."

"Not true," Max replied as he sat up to look at the girl, "I have a few things I've been happy to be wrong about."

"You also love to argue." The princess sweat dropped before noticing Nana and Rito below, "Oh? What's this?"

"I don't know I'm over here." The teen commented sarcastically earning him a brief glare from the girl before she returned to watching the scene below.

Max stood and walked over to the rail where Momo was standing. Below Rito could be seen listening to Nana. The girl seemed distressed as Rito was lost in thought. Nana then ran off after Rito said something. Lala then walked up and the two talked as they watched the younger girl run off.

"Did something happen with Nana?" Max asked.

"She said something that upset Mea. Mea was upset over her…" Momo informed the boy before he finished the thought.

"Argument with Yami." The dark haired boy said

"It's weird how you do that." The girl responded as she cut her eyes toward the boy.

"Being her older sister Yami is probably one of the most important things to Mea and considering she was upset before talking to Nana that's all there was to it." The boy lied about how he knew. He didn't want to have to explain why he hadn't found a chance to tell Momo ahead of time.

"Fair enough." The princess replied, "Let's go get some lunch!"

"Haha sure, but you can be honest if you're worried about your sister." Max assured the girl as they turned for the door.

"Aw, is Ru worrying about me?" the pinkette teased.

"Always." The boy answered catching the girl off guard and getting her to blush.

After lunch the two returned to class. During the next break Nana approached them as she asked for Momo to help her ask "the beast" to get a favor from Haruna Senpai and Marron. The plan was set, but just as the group was leaving to get Mea and take her to the riverside Mikado sensei came running up to the group.

"Max! Where do you think you're going?!" the woman seemed angry with the boy.

"Well you see…" the boy began before he was cut off.

"You still have to finish that history midterm!" the doctor interrupted.

"About that I'm a little busy…" the boy tried to put off the exam. He had made up all the others, as a condition for his acceptance he had to do the midterms so he had some form of a grade in the system, but he had been putting off history.

"Oh that's ok; we'll be fine without you." Momo stated with an evil smirk. She enjoyed seeing the side of Max with absolutely no defense as he tended to have more amusing reactions.

"Then it's settled!" the nurse declared as she grabbed the boy by the collar before he could utter a word of defense.

The girls left with Rito and Haruna in tow to the location where they planned to introduce all of the "cute" members of Nana's collection of pets. Max was stuck inside with an exam on a subject he knew virtually nothing about. The test had a two hour time limit, but the boy rushed it and finished in one hour drawing a skeptical look from Mikado Sensei.

"Did you cheat?" the doctor asked as she checked his scores and looked at the boy.

"No, all the prompts were motive and quote based, so it wasn't that hard to figure out." Max responded blandly as he checked his watch, "Can I leave now?"

Mikado laughed as she dismissed the boy, "Kids that live on this planet don't even get a perfect score. You're something else."

"Yeah, yeah. Thanks for the compliment bye sensei." The boy called as he rushed out the door.

"Gosh rushing out before I could give him a job offer." The school nurse sighed, "Next time."

Max rushed down the hall and to his locker. The boy quickly changed shoes and stepped outside to see Yami and Lala chatting. The boy rushed over to them and asked if they knew where Rito had gone.

"Yeah they decided the best place to meet was near the bridge." Lala replied, "Why?"

"I was supposed to be there too in case anything happened with Rito." Max answered hurriedly.

"Ah, so what you're saying is that pervert's antics are going unchecked." Yami commented.

"Precisely! Well not precisely, but you basically get the point." The boy responded, "Can you all take me? I don't want to use the static jump because I might bump into someone. I can see where I'm going, but if a person were to step out from behind something…"

"Sure!" the pink haired heiress agreed, "I wanna check up on Nana and Momo too."

"I'll take along princess Lala." Yami said as she grew angelic white wings.

"Well that's new." Max uttered in complete shock before being pulled into the air by Nana and Yami.

The three flew along, but as they approached they saw a scene of complete chaos. Rito and Haruna were being used as toys by a couple of large octopus like creatures while Nana and Mea were being violated by the smaller pets. Suddenly Nana made a break after one, but didn't see that she was running right into the path of a truck.

"Drop me now! I'll get Rito and Haruna Senpai! You save Nana!" Max commanded as the girls nodded and dropped him to rush to the scene.

Mea leaped through the air and appeared to be preparing to use her Trans ability, but before she could Lala and Yami stopped the truck. Lala had changed into what Max assumed was her Devilukean attire in order to use a tool she had put into it. The dark haired boy turned his attention to the other teens in need of rescue. The boy hit the earth and fell into a roll before standing and turning to face the alien beasts.

"I leave you unsupervised for an hour and this happens." The boy called to Rito disapprovingly.

"Teasing later! Help Now!" The brown haired boy managed to shout in reply before his head was shoved back up Haruna's skirt.

"Fine." The dark haired first year turned his attention to the two beasts, "Hey you two over-sized octopuses. Let them go."

The white and red aliens paused and looked at each other before each moving a tentacle to smash the boy. They swung full force, but both monsters' blows stopped short of their target. No matter how hard they forced the beast could hit within five feet of the boy as he radiated energy. Soon the creatures' tentacles were covered in marks from failing to break through Max's static field. The creatures glared in frustration at the boy. Max returned the animosity tenfold with killing intent radiating from him like the static that sparked the air around him.

"I've always wanted to try Takoyaki." The teen said with a menacing glare.

The beasts were terrified at this statement combined with the deathly gaze. They set down Haruna and Rito before crawling to hide behind Nana. Momo went to check on the two Senpai as Max sighed and looked around. It was then that he noticed Mea genuinely laughing as Nana freaked out at something the girl had said.

Rito and Haruna went to join the group as they all shared a heartwarming moment. Max smiled as he watched the story begin unfolding in front of him. He could see a happy ending for these people in their grasp. A poke in his side jarred him from his thoughts as the boy turned to see Momo looking at him with a smoldering gaze.

"Sorry for making you take your test Ru." The princess cooed sweetly as she batted her eyelashes, "but I did think you looked pretty cool. You didn't even flinch as they swung at you."

"I'm not forgiving you that easily." The boy informed the girl with a hint of a smile.

"Boo, you saw through to my intentions…" Momo pouted.

"Of course, you'd only act like that if you were worried I was upset with you." Max responded.

"I can be cute!" the princess insisted.

"Yes, yes you can. When you really want something or want to keep up appearances." The teen shot back as he returned his gaze to the other group.

Momo followed his gaze before smiling at the boy's simplicity as she reminded the boy, "You're part of that happy ending too you know."

Max was shocked at the girl reading his thoughts as he turned quickly to face her in surprise. His look was met by a smile. The two started laughing and turned to face the larger group.

"Yeah I guess I am." The dark haired boy admitted before walking towards his new reality with Momo following right behind him.

(…)

Hey everyone, I had a little fun with this one. I'm doing a whole ton of stuff irl right now, so please bear with me if it takes me a little for the next one. This chapter took a little because I seriously debated about a few scenes. I hope you're all enjoying the story thus far. I'm thinking this is going to be average chapter length because I can only really fit in all I want to say in this sort of length. I'm still working on cleaning up the other chapters. Still sorry about that habit. Look forward to the next chapter! See you next time.

AH


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Putting the Past Away

The next day at school at school the worst possible occurrences came to pass. The morning had started out normally enough for the group, but when they arrived at school Max was called down to Mikado's office.

The boy told everyone he would meet up with them later and left with Oshizu-Senpai to see the school nurse. The girl was in Rito's year and was the good doctor's acting assistant. There wasn't much strange about her, other than the noteworthy fact that she was actually a ghost living in a body created by the alien doctor whom she worked for. The two walked down the hallway as their footsteps echoed at a deafening decibel through the silence.

"Did Mikado tell you why she wanted to talk to me?" Max inquired as he tried to break the silence.

"No… she just told me to come get you." The girl murmured simply with a bit of a quiver in her voice.

"Are you not good with new people?" the younger boy more stated than asked.

"Ah…no…" Murasame-Senpai admitted.

"Hm, well then I hope I get the chance to get to know you." The dark haired boy stated with a smile as the two came up to the nurse's office door.

"Eh?" the teen squeaked in mild shock at the statement, but before she could say anything else the boy had flashed a smile and entered the nurse's office shutting the door behind him.

After shutting the door, Max turned to see the woman that had called for him serenely sitting by the window. The well-endowed doctor sat looking endlessly at the horizon. Not wanting to interrupt whatever thought she was submerged so deeply in, the teen quietly took a seat and. as he did. the woman turned in her chair so that the two were face to face.

"Good news or bad news first?" Mikado-Sensei demanded.

"Good news, that way the bad news will suck a little less." Max decided.

"I have a job for you." The auburn haired woman informed.

"I said good news." The boy joked but when he didn't receive a laugh he continued, "What is it?"

"I'm in need of a problem solver." The doctor informed, "You're smart and capable of handling yourself, so I'd like you to act as my helper for any alien related problems in the city."

"Problem solver?" the student repeated with a curious tone, "So like a detective or a thug or a hitman?"

"Maybe not a hitman, but that's the idea." The nurse affirmed the boy's conclusion, "I'd pay you well enough, and you don't currently have an income so I thought you might like this opportunity."

"Point taken, you're correct that I'm not exactly in a position to deny you. An income would mean I wouldn't need to keep burdening the others… I accept your job offer." Max lamented with a sigh.

"Great! Then take this." Mikado instructed as she handed the boy a black smart phone, "This is so I can contact you. It's yours to keep and as a part of the job everything is unlimited. Feel free to use it personally as well."

"Thanks… you didn't have to though I could've bought one with my first paycheck…" The boy began but the woman's motherly smile silenced the beginning of the rejection of the gift, "So what was the bad news?"

"Ah well you see…" the nurse trailed off absently as she suddenly avoided eye contact with boy.

As the woman spoke Max's eyes widened. His hands began to tremble and Celine who had been playing alone looked up in concern toward the boy. Max left the nurse's office in a sprint. The dark haired teen didn't even bother to shut the door before he began his run down the hall. The boy didn't use static step, but his walls had been broken and sparks shot off the boy as he ran down the clear corridor.

Max came upon his classroom and slammed the door open stunning everyone in the room. All eyes were on him, as the boy panted two new pair were currently looking straight into the boy's soul. A girl with long dark hair and chilling blue eyes stood closest. The girl smiled as she looked at Max while the rest of the room gaped in shock at the boy's sudden arrival. She stood beside a boy that had snow white hair and was roughly a foot taller than Max. The boy's stony gaze sent chills down the dark haired boy's spine.

"Look who it is James," the girl giggled, "It's our old friend Max."

"Ms. Parker I would hardly call that riff-raff a friend. He is barely worthy to be scraps one feeds to a hound." The boy named James responded coldly.

Max glanced at Momo, the pinkette was floored. She had probably recognized the girl's name and paled as the realization that these two people had truly appeared struck her. The girl glanced at Max and as the two made eye contact Momo's mind began to whir into overdrive at the confirmation evident in the dark haired boy's eyes.

"Ah, Max…" the teacher spoke awkwardly, "this is…"

"Sarah Parker and James London." Max interrupted, "Two transfer students."

"Oh so the brainless brute can remember names." James retorted smugly as he tried to get a rise out of Max.

"Shouldn't you be chasing your tail somewhere James? That is what shameless dogs do isn't it?" the dark haired boy seethed getting a slight giggle out of Sarah, but that did not please Max.

"It's nice to see you again Max." the princess proceeded as she ignored the two boy's digs at each other.

"I wish I could say the same, but I won't be seeing you for long. Sensei, Mikado-Sensei says that I'm excused until my scores get back, so I'll be leaving early today." The dark haired boy informed as he walked to his desk where Momo had dropped off his bag.

Max nodded to Momo as he walked by to reassure the girl that he would be alright. Around the room the student's gathered the impression that Max and these two new students were on bad terms. Masashi was about to stand and speak, but Max waved his hand as if to tell the boy not to.

"I look forward to studying together this year." Max lied with a smile.

The boy walked out and slammed the door as he left. His animosity wasn't lost on anyone, but no one, not even Momo, knew why. She knew that there was more to his leaving life at the palace than he had let on. When they were under the bridge it felt as if he were still holding something back, but the girl had decided that letting the boy take his own pace was the best thing to do. Now, the pink haired princess wasn't so sure.

Mea and Nana exchanged glances and with a nod made a decision to press Momo for answers later. Yami sat an examined the situation as she too attempted to decipher what could make the normally cool headed boy behave so lividly. Akiko, leader of the Lockton Fan Club, was floored at the different side to the boy she had just witnessed. The girl looked at the two new students and was suddenly filled with resentment at how the girl in her wildly elegant and beautiful dark hair had just removed Max from her reach merely with her presence.

"Can we start class now?" the teacher asked nervously. The two new students nodded politely and took their seats toward the back of the room.

"I didn't know we had that many seats in the class." One boy muttered to another as the teacher began his lesson.

"Like for real, was our class just empty before we got seven transfer students?" the other replied.

"Sh!" a girl interrupted the fourth wall smashing conversation.

At first break Momo grabbed her bag to leave. As she made her way to the door the white haired boy James blocked her path. Momo looked to the Ice Princess smiling at her and motioning for her to come see her.

"It looks like you're going somewhere, can I ask where?" James asked as he leaned uncomfortably close to the Devilukean princess.

"Why? Can't you figure it out?" Momo countered sweetly, "I already know where you're going."

"Oh and where's that?" the boy responded as he reached out to touch the girl's face.

"Hell, and if you touch me or don't move I'll be the one to send you there." The princess threatened in a hushed tone.

She caught the boy off guard giving her the chance to move past. Nana and Mea watched as Momo showed the new boy her other side without a moment's hesitation.

"If your sister is showing them her dark side it must mean that she knows something on her own." Mea concluded.

"Yeah," Nana affirmed, "She's probably going to meet Max right now."

"Should we follow?" the redhead suggested.

"No." the pinkette sighed, "we can have them tell us later. Let's leave it to them for now."

Momo made her way to Mikado's office where she found Max, Rito, and Mikado sitting in silence. It appeared that Rito had been brought up to speed as he was sulking in thought when the pinkette entered.

"Now that everyone is here." Mikado began, "Let's decide what to do."

"Let's start with why Max doesn't like them." Momo insisted as she shut the door.

"You didn't tell them?" the nurse gaped at the crucial detail the boy had left out.

"It's just speculation. We have no proof." The dark haired boy admitted, "I also never thought I'd see them again."

"Can someone please just tell me what's going on?" Rito complained at the uncertainty of the situation.

"Max was set up." Mikado informed bluntly.

"We have no proof of that." Max countered.

"Excuse me, what?" Momo uttered in dumbfounded disbelief.

Not only had Max confided in the nurse about his past at some point in time, but he had also told her more about his past than he had either her or Rito. Rito was experiencing a similar sense of betrayal when the dark haired teen noticed the mood shift.

"I told Mikado Sensei about my past when she asked during my test the other day." Max updated the two, "The theory that I was set up was her idea as well."

"Do you believe it?" the pinkette interrogated as she felt relief wash over her.

"Honestly?" the boy sighed as he dropped down onto a bed, "I don't care. I like my life now, but if they're here and intend to change it for the worse then I won't forgive them…"

"Wait, so you don't harbor any resentment?" the eldest boy wondered.

"I resent that they went out of their way to do it, if they did, but that's all behind me." The green eyed boy divulged to the group.

"Then what was the classroom thing about?" Momo nearly shouted in disbelief at the fact the boy claimed he was impartial.

"I really really don't like James." Max smiled sheepishly at his childish feud with the boy, "He's the one that took over after me and probably had a part in any plot against me if there was one, but that's not why I don't like him."

"Then why?" the nurse pressed to resolve her confusion over the boy's seemingly contradictory statements.

"He's an elitist ass hole with a superiority complex." The dark haired boy declared pointedly, "He also thinks chicken taste better than beef in ramen."

The entire room sweat dropped at the last reason. The two boys were at each other's throats over a dispute about what ramen flavor tasted the best. Momo sighed at how childish her boyfriend was while Rito and Mikado proceeded to laugh.

After the laughter ceased the group chatted for a short while. They had already decided that school had let out early for them and Mikado Sensei agreed to cover for them, but in exchange Max had to help her out with his first job the next day. Max tried to head back to class in order to avoid work, but Momo and Rito agreed in his stead much to the boy's dismay. The three said good bye to Mikado and began to leave the school.

"So why were you there Rito?" Max pondered as the three exited the building.

"You didn't call him?" Momo exclaimed in shock.

Max shook his head in response as Rito responded, "I was hiding from Run… she just came back and has been even more clingy than she was before."

"You're such an ass, how is the Harem Plan going to work if you don't put a little work in?" the pinkette complained as she hit the older boy with her bag in order to further show her disapproval.

"You're still going on with that?" The brown haired boy groaned.

"Yes and if you don't agree to go on a date you'll make our job harder," Momo gestured to herself and Max as she chastised the boy, "and I'll make your life harder."

"Fine…" the older boy relented.

"Um… who's Run?" Max asked after Rito caved to Momo's demands.

"Pop star." Momo informed.

"Sex changing alien." Rito whimpered.

"Sorry I asked." The younger boy sighed as the group walked on.

When they arrived at the house the group changed into casual clothes before starting on the house work Mikan had assigned them earlier. While Max vacuumed and Rito worked in the garden Momo washed the dishes.

After chores had been finished Rito went to start on the work he had neglected to do over break. Momo went to sit down on the couch and turn on the news, but just as she did Max's new phone went off. Mikado had just texted the boy the details of his first assignment. Momo pouted as she read the text. When Max entered her sweat dropped at the girl's displeased face.

"Is there a problem Momo?" Max wondered aloud though he already knew the answer.

"You won't be able to help with the date tomorrow." Momo pouted.

"Why not?" the dark haired boy asked as he sat himself down beside the girl.

"You'll be showing the new students around town and trying to find out their reason for being here and if it has anything to do with how you got here." The pinkette summarized the message.

"Hm." The teenage boy replied, "I figured it would be something like that. Oh well, I'm curious myself."

"You'd rather spend time with the princess than me?" the pinkette scowled.

"Of course not, but I do want to know if that mysterious figure that brought me here did the same to them." Max explained, "Besides she's a princess, but you're my princess."

The only thing Momo could manage was a blush and a string of gibberish at the suave line the boy had just dropped. The girl's embarrassed reaction was enough to get Max to laugh before taking his phone back from the girl. Max then took the incapacitated Momo's phone and quickly exchanged numbers with the girl while she still sat turning over the boy's statement in her head.

"You really know how to get under my skin…" The princess mumbled.

"Oh I could do more than that." The boy teased as he handed the girl her phone back and left to go help Rito with homework.

The next morning Max and Momo left ahead of everyone else. Max wanted to try and sort out why Sarah and James had showed up while Momo wanted to tell Run that she had a date with Rito. The two also wanted to spend some uninterrupted time together, so they decided to take the long way to school.

The night before Mea had visited as a guest of Nana. The two girls had ensured a distance was maintained between Max and Momo. Mea had spent the whole night pestering Max about the new students as Nana pressed her sister for the same answers.

Max caved and wound up telling the entire household about his past as well as the theory that he had been set up. The boy included the details that he may have become overly ambitious and deserved what had happened, but even so he believed that there would have been other ways of going about it. Though in the end he gave them the same conclusion he had reached while texting Momo during tutoring with Rito. The boy harbored very little resentment because everything that happened had brought him to this world and all the people he had come to care for.

"Last night was a mess." Momo sighed as she recalled the two girls squeezing between her and Max as they sat on the couch.

"Sure was." Max agreed.

"You didn't do a thing about Mea clinging to you either." The princess glared at the boy who had allowed the red head girl to cling to his arm nearly all night.

"Was there a problem? She was just messing around." the boy asked unaware of doing anything wrong.

"Yes." Momo fumed at the boy's obliviousness. He seemed to be worse than Rito when it came to Mea.

"I didn't see a problem." A voice called from behind.

The two turned to see Mea jump down from a roof top and run up to them. The redheaded girl wore a goofy grin on her face that made Momo resent her interruption even more.

"Aren't you supposed to be walking to school with Nana?" the pinkette put uncharacteristically bluntly.

"Good morning to you too Momo." The red head replied.

"Why are you out this early?" Max rephrased Momo's question.

"Looking for Master. She disappeared a little while ago. I was checking the roof tops when I saw you." The teen informed.

"Who is your Master?" the pinkette princess asked in an attempt to coax some more information out of the girl.

"Secret!" Mea replied in a matter of fact manner.

"Figured." Max sighed before Momo could strangle the girl for being so difficult when there was so much else going on.

The three walked to school together after Momo finally calmed herself. She had wondered what made Mea change from asking for Rito when she met the group to taking more of an interest in Max, but the girl couldn't come to any conclusion. When they arrived at school Sarah was leaning up against the school gate as if she had been waiting for the group.

Max looked around before addressing the girl, "No glorified body guard today?"

"Hehe, I knew you'd say that Maxy. You used to be that 'glorified body guard' yourself," the dark haired girl laughed, "To answer you, no I did manage to escape this morning. I wanted to apologize about yesterday."

"Sure, you're forgiven. I was a bit of an ass, but I do have a question for you." The dark haired boy stated as Momo eyed him nervously.

"Oh? What is it?" the icy eyed girl responded.

"Did you frame me?" Max asked evenly.

"And if I did?" Sarah answered in a very non-answer like fashion.

"Then it's water under the bridge now. I don't care anymore." The dark haired boy sighed at the fact that Mikado would tell him that she was right, "There is another thing."

"Go ahead and shoot." The dark haired girl smiled as the boy seemed to have forgiven her for her altering of his past life.

"Why are you here?" Max interrogated.

"To bring you home." Sarah's smile vanished as she answered the boy truthfully, "You aren't supposed to meddle in the affairs of other worlds and…"

"Part of that is plagiarized, but 'and…' what?" the green eyed boy pressed.

"Never mind I'll tell you some other time, but can I ask you something?" the brunette dodged yet again. Both the girls eyed her suspiciously, but Max nodded so she continued, "Could we be friends again? I know I'm supposed to take you back and all, but you seem happy here and if I could make up to you…"

"Go ahead and give up on making it up to me." Max suggested, "There's nothing to make up. I'm well aware I was overly ambitious, so I had it coming. As for the friends matter… sure."

"Max!" Momo and Mea both exclaimed and began to protest but Max waved them down.

"If your guard dog can get over himself, then putting this all behind me might give me some peace of mind." The dark haired boy informed.

"Ehehe, can we take baby steps with James?" Sarah inquired nervously.

"Of course, though I'm surprised that a man with the thought capability of a fetus is capable of baby steps." Max joked cruelly getting a small laugh out of his old friend.

Momo fell into a moment of despair. She had been unable to see how Max might feel about maintaining his distance from the girl. She was jealous of the fact they were childhood friends and had let that blind her. She reached and tugged on the boy's sleeve.

"Ah I should probably introduce you all officially." Max realized, "This is my girlfriend Momo and this is Mea, she's a new friend of mine."

Sarah seemed to be processing the statement with her head tilted to the side and her face frozen in a weird smile. Mea ran up to her and examined the odd position. The girl was in, just as the red head was about to poke the brunette she moved.

"Excuse me, what?" Sarah shouted losing her cool.

"Mea…" Max began, but he was cut off.

"No, the other part." The ice princess instructed.

"I'm his girlfriend, the name is Princess Momo Velia Deviluke, nice to meet you." Momo chimed with a broad smile. Not only had the boy officially called her his girlfriend but she had just gotten a rise out of his childhood friend.

Before more could be said a wailing cloud of dust appeared on the horizon. As the mass neared closer it could be seen to be James. The boy was bounding full force toward them with two school bags in his hands and a piece of toast in his mouth. It became apparent that the boy also had no idea that he would eventually need to stop. The girl's moved out of the way as Max sighed with malice and he glared at the chicken loving buffoon.

"I have a lot to ask you, but for now could you please stop him?" The ice cold beauty pleaded.

"Gladly." Max smiled menacingly.

As the boy came within 20 feet he realized what the rest of the group already had. In desperation at seeing his former boss smile wickedly the boy tried to slow himself, but his efforts were in vain. Max rolled up the sleeve of the jacket he had worn to school and electricity began to arc around his arm.

"I wanted to try this for a while, and who better to test it on than my favorite brick wall." The dark haired boy announced as he positioned himself.

"Please no…" the silver hair boy pleaded in fear of the pain of coming to rest so rapidly accompanied by an electrocution from his former boss.

"Too late for that now," Max grinned as the lighting around his arm intensified, "Lightning Lariat!"

Max dropped his height so his arm would connect right at the other boy's center of mass. The air was forced out of the silver boy's lungs as his entire motion was brought to an immediate halt. Max had managed to apply just the right amount of force so that the human wall would be brought perfectly to rest. As the boy collapsed to the ground Max stretched out his shoulder muscle. The collision had happened over a matter of seconds, but the power of the new move was well tested. This thought brought a smile to Max's face.

"Wasn't that overkill?" Momo asked nervously.

"Ah, but you see now I'm capable of completely forgiving the two. I feel a lot better." Max smiled broadly at the success of his move.

"You never change, do you?" Sarah giggled at the boy's cheesy habit of naming his fighting techniques.

"Same could be said for you." The dark haired boy shot back.

When James came to he was about to flip out on Max, but the princess he was meant to guard informed him of the situation and he reluctantly complied. Momo smiled outwardly while on the inside she was still skeptical of the two new comers for Max's sake.

"Max you should teach me that!" Mea beamed as she got up in the dark haired boy's face with stars in her blue eyes.

"What no way!" the boy responded, "I just came up with it, and you can't channel lightning anyway."

Before the girl could protest Rito and company appeared and called out to the group. While they were brought up to speed Momo ran off to find Run and tell her to clear her schedule for the afternoon. Sarah watched as the girl ran off in the direction of the school.

"It seems there's an obstacle between me and what I want." The princess thought to herself.

(…)

Hey sorry this one took a while. I've been doing a lot of studying recently. I also wanted to know if you all wanted me to start personally responding to your comments in this section. I really enjoy hearing that you all are enjoying the story, so if you want me to respond just let me know and I'll gladly do it for all comments so far. Really hope you all are still enjoying this. See you next time!

-AH


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Ain't No Rest for the Wizard

The breeze that drifted across the roof possessed an air of calm, an air that the teenagers enjoying their lunch only the same rooftop lacked. Max had swapped James's tomato soup for a thermos of straight hot sauce. Max had quickly started acting friendlier with the two, but still seemed to not fully trust them. Momo looked on as the white haired boy seized up in anger and pain causing the dark haired boy to roll about in laughter. Momo recalled what Max had told her in private during first break.

"Do you really plan to become their friends again? Aren't you angry?" Momo had asked in slightly angry disbelief, "They ruined your life! Even if you were 'overly ambitious' they were your friends and they betrayed you!"

The pinkette recalled how Max had smiled softly before patting her head and speaking, "I'm happy that you're care enough about me to get angry in my stead, but I spent a lot of time angry. I spent a lot of time drowning myself in hate. I spent my time being caught up in that hatred, but you know… it's pretty exhausting to hold a grudge… Don't get me wrong Momo, I haven't completely forgiven them yet but I think I want to try and be more like Rito."

"More like Rito?" the pinkette recalled wondering aloud.

"I can't but help that Rito would forgive someone even after betrayal. He's kind. If that's good or bad… I don't know, but I do know that hate eats away at you until it possesses you. If I let that happen I wouldn't deserve to be around your light." The dark haired boy had replied as his electric green eyes bore into Momo's.

Momo's thoughts were cut short as Mea knocked her down. Anger flashed across the pinkette's face before she realized the girl had just saved her from becoming collateral damage of James's rampage.

"T-thanks…" the princess reluctantly muttered, to which the girl only giggled in reply.

The group settled down after Max knocked the white haired teen out with his electricity. The group finished their lunch and chatted casually. Nana primarily talked with Mea while Sarah tried to exclude Momo from the conversation with Max. The dark haired boy ignored her and instead turned his attention completely to the pinkette.

"So what's your plan with Run?" Max inquired.

"They're going on a date through local Sainan. I think I'll primarily let Rito handle it and I'll just observe." Momo answered thoughtfully.

"Oo~" Mea exclaimed, "Can I tag along?"

"S-sure." The pinkette stuttered before realizing it. Momo still didn't trust this girl, but she had been so caught up with everything else going on that she had forgotten to really pay Mea much thought as a threat.

"Oh yay!" the red head cheered, "Nana you can come too! And I'll bring Yami!"

"Eh?!" Nana shouted before dropping to a hush, "Well I guess if it's just to keep the beast from doing anything to Run…"

"Where are we going Max?" Sarah asked still trying to hold the boy's attention. The girl got a little too close for Momo's comfort, but Max didn't seem to notice.

"Who knows," the boy responded with an uninterested tone, "I haven't been here that long myself."

"Oh come on you have to know somewhere." The brunette pushed undeterred by the teen's lack of interest,

"Eh? Max won't be going with us?" Mea piped in as her previous enthusiasm seemed to temporarily vanish.

"No he'll be showing me around town!" the ice princess announced as she hugged the boy from behind, but received no reaction as she pressed her chest against his back.

Cross-popping veins appeared on both Mea and Momo's foreheads as they contained their outrage at the act. The suddenly and idea struck the redheaded girl.

"Why don't I show you around?" Mea offered, "I know a lot about the town!"

"Is that because you've had to run all over it to escape that crazy old man?" the dark haired boy teased.

"Yes!" the girl affirmed not understanding that the boy had been sarcastic.

"Figures…" Max sighed and sweat dropped.

"Now that that's decided," Momo interrupted still containing her anger, "We should probably get back to class."

The group all got up and began to pack their things. Nana showed Sarah back to class at the request of Mea. The last ones on the roof were Mea, Momo, Max, and the unconscious James. The two girls eyed each other suspiciously as Max sweat dropped at being caught between them.

"Max, Mea and I have to talk, so just give us a little. We'll see you when we get back to class." Momo instructed as she maintained her icy stare.

"Sure thing." The teen sighed in relief before patting Momo on the head and escaping the awkward tension.

Mea waited for the door to the rooftop to shut before speaking, "Did Yami tell you what I am?"

"Yes," the pink haired girl admitted flatly, "When did you figure out we knew?"

"When you didn't bat an eye at me jumping to save Nana." The redhead informed, "When did you figure out I figured out that you knew?"

"When you openly mentioned your master this morning." Momo answered as she recalled the experience, "So what's your goal?"

"Secret!" the Trans-weapon chimed, "But I will tell you that I'm after Max. He's like a weapon too. He'd go great with Master's plan."

"Is that your Master's idea?" the princess demanded feeling threatened by the girl.

"No," Mea mumbled sadly, "Master has disappeared but before she left she said she sensed another one."

"Another one?" the pinkette pressed.

"I don't know either, but with Master gone I think I'll try to get along with you all until further notice. I will achieve master's goal." The trans-weapon insisted, but this was more to herself than Momo.

"Then I guess we can't be friends." The princess concluded.

"I don't know about that." Mea countered, "I think that making a harem for Rito would be fun. He's easily embarrassed. I'll help you, even with getting Nana in, but I won't help with Yami."

"I'm not making Max a harem." Momo clarified evenly as if to challenge the girl.

"Then I'll just be your rival." The girl smiled genuinely.

"Fine." The high school princess relented after extensive internal debate, "but only because we agree on one thing."

The two girls grinned before shaking hands and articulating their mutual conclusion, "Sarah Parker means trouble."

"I mean honestly," Mea complained, "busty, the closest thing Max has to a childhood friend, and a princess."

"It's just not fair." Momo agreed as the two moved to catch up with the others.

As the door shut behind them the disregarded white haired boy sat up and spoke to himself, "Well isn't that interesting."

Class resumed and the day continued as normal. Momo and Max agreed to meet later if Mea's tour ended early, but the princess privately doubted that she'd fair so fortunately. Mea and Max left to meet Sarah and James, who had departed earlier, at the school gates before starting their tour. Momo was glad that Max wasn't alone with Sarah and James, especially after the discovery that their goal was to take Max back home with them, but the pinkette brushed aside the thoughts and, albeit reluctantly, put her faith in Mea.

The four students walked the town as the red haired teen showed them around the shopping district. The town was by no means small, but it still paled in comparison to the larger city Max had visited. While touring a candy shop Sarah pulled Max aside.

"There's something I've been meaning to tell you…" the princess confessed, "It's about the other reason we're here and looking for you."

"Well?" the boy urged the girl to continue after confirming that James was occupying Mea with candy.

"My father is in a coma." Sarah choked, "And you're brother is the one that attacked him."

"I don't have a brother…" Max denied as his expression darkened, "Even if by blood, we're nothing alike."

"He attacked my father and fled to this world, Max." the dark haired girl reported, "We're here to capture your brother and bring you back so you can rule."

"I don't want that anymore, and your old man isn't dead yet." The high school boy reasoned, "Finding _him_ isn't my responsibility."

"But you're the only one that can…" the brunette princess began but she was cut off.

"You're a trained leader, and if he fled here then he's obviously afraid of you and James. Leave me out of this. I don't want to talk about it anymore." Max asserted steadfastly adhering to his previous assertion.

Before Sarah could plead for the boy's assistance with the issue any more Mea came over and interrupted, "Hey, hey Mac you should buy me this!"

"First off my name is Max, and second why would I do that?" the boy replied eager to escape the princess's pleas for help.

"Because you don't want me to steal!" the redhead reminded.

"Fine…" the dark haired boy relented knowing full well that if he didn't the redhead would create a crime scene.

"Yay!" Mea squealed as she whisked Max off to purchase the candy she had picked out using his advanced payment from Mikado.

"Sorry Sarah…" Max thought to himself, "But I'm no emperor. I'm just strong and I like to fight… and _that_ person you think is my brother… I don't think I could stand to see him… so I'm sorry… but I can't help you."

A tear streaked down Sarah's face as she read her old friend's sad thoughts. It was her "ear of the empress" ability she inherited from her father that allowed her to read one person's thoughts, but she almost wished she hadn't. Max was still haunted by his family issues. The dark haired girl felt selfish for trying to force her responsibilities as acting empress on her friend, but she knew she couldn't do this without him.

"How'd it go?" James inquired as he approached the girl.

"He needs more convincing." Sarah answered as she wiped away the tear and steeled herself before mumbling, "I'm sorry too Max… but just like I did then… I have to put the people first…"

"Did you say something?" the white haired boy inquired.

"We're dropping it for today, so let's just enjoy ourselves." The princess resolved.

"Sure." The tall boy uttered in shock before looking on as Mea emptied Max's wallet, "But that girl sure is a piece of work."

"So I have two rivals then." Sarah mumbled to herself seriously as she watched the dark haired boy get pushed around by the redhead's demands.

"Eh?" James cried out in shock at the princess's statement, but he received no response as the dark haired beauty left to go interrupt the girl's shopping spree.

The group left the candy store as the sun began to set. The sky had been painted varying shades of orange and read. The teenagers all marveled the spectacle as they had a direct view of the sunset down Main Street. Suddenly, Max's phone started ringing, spoiling the serenity of the moment. The teen checked it to see that Mikado was calling him.

The boy answered the phone and spoke with reluctance to hear the answer, "Hey, something wrong?"

"Ah well you see…" the woman began.

Max listened as the woman detailed her request. The boy agreed to the woman's request and sighed as he ended the call and returned the phone to his pocket. He was beginning to seriously question accepting the position of 'investigator' for the alien nurse.

"Sorry," the dark haired boy apologized, "Mikado wants me to check out a shop back the way we came. She said one of her patients just informed her that they're running alien slave trade through it. I have to go."

The three looked at each other before looking back at Max and speaking in sync, "We're coming."

"It's not paying you know." The boy warned trying to dissuade the three.

"So? You're gonna kick ass again and I wanna see." Mea smiled as she rejected the boy's reason.

"You're my guide for the afternoon." Sarah reminded.

"I go where the princess goes, and I can't have my former boss doing a job alone. Even if he is just riff-raff…" James declared with a smirk.

"Mea… we'll talk about what you mean by again by 'again' later, Sarah… fine whatever, but James I thought you hated me." The dark haired teen sighed.

"I hated the type of person that you became after… Well just to sum it up. You're more like the old you in this world. I can tolerate riff-raff in my presence, but not the kind of person you became." The white haired boy explained.

"Well, just to clarify, I still think you're an elitist ass, but I'll let you tag along." Max smiled at his old partner's confession, "Ok then everyone let's go."

The group sauntered through the streets in the direction of the address the doctor had provided. Mea lead the way swinging her bag of candy about like a child as she skipped. Max and James made digs at each other as they rechanneled their competitive rivalry. Sarah looked on in joy as the two seemed to return to their previous relationship. It seemed like everything would settle down.

"This world has a magic of its own I suppose." The princess thought, "To change people… to reconnect others… what else does this place have in store…"

The four students arrived at the building. It was a moderately sized building that stood three stories in height. Covered in reddish brown brick the building looked old compared to the surrounding shops and diners. The bottom was disguised as a restaurant, but the place seemed devoid of customers and the people that passed by barely seemed to notice it.

"This place does have an odd air about it." Max noted as he examined the building.

"What's the plan?" Mea inquired.

"Enter, free any captives and hand over the criminals to Zastin." The boy announced.

"Who's Zastin?" Sarah questioned as she was unfamiliar with the name.

"Head of the Royal Guard of Deviluke." The dark haired boy responded, "He can transport criminals to the intergalactic jail."

"Sounds simple enough." James commented.

The four entered the restaurant, but there were no employees or customers to be seen. Max gestured to signal the others to check the upper floors. They nodded in silent agreement as the left in search of the back staircase. Max stood alone in silence. The boy closed his eyes and pondered the possible locations the criminals could hide.

"Don't move." Came an answer to the dark haired boy's inaudible question just as a small pressed was exerted on the boy's back.

"So that's where you were." Max stated flippantly, "The service here is terrible."

"Who are you?!" the voice questioned angrily as the small pressure on his back increased before decreasing again, "Actually, humans can't get through the field, so what are you?"

"According to taxonomy I am in fact human. Although some experts would argue that I'm a monster." The boy joked as he flashed to behind the man, "Now then, where are those slaves you're looking to traffic through here."

"How?" the alien began to shout.

"I'm the one asking the questions now." Max threatened menacingly.

The man looked like a humanoid cat. He jumped to assume a combative position, but before his feet could hit the ground Max had smashed him into the ground. The teenagers in the floors above knew that the boy had found the culprits and ran to join their friend. The arrived on the bottom floor to find that Max had smashed the catlike man through the floor and into a hidden basement where many species of alien sat gagged.

"You work quickly." Sarah commented as the cat-man's accomplices jumped out of the hole to attack the intruders.

The fight was over in a matter of seconds, but the information Mea gathered on the other two 'Mages,' as the princess had referred to them as in a conversation on the way to the building, was of frightening even to the self-proclaimed weapon.

There were roughly ten enemies in total, including the already incapacitated one laying in a pile of rubble below, but each of the student's had proceeded to eliminate three before Mea could blink. James had immediately imprisoned his three in stone that he seemed to generate out of thin air. Then the boy had slammed all three stone caskets together rendering the aliens inside unconscious. In the next instant Sarah had pierced her opponents with ice spikes. The girl had not only generated the spikes in a single moment, but she had purposefully avoided hitting any vital spots using her instant analysis of the unfamiliar species. By the time Mea looked to Max all that was left of the three that attacked him were their unconscious bodies coated in electrical burns. The criminals' clothes were in tatters.

The three barely batted an eye at the scene of absolute annihilation. Mea felt the sheer magnitude of their fighting power freeze her where she stood. The criminals had been eliminated in an instant as if they were insignificant bugs to the students. The three looked more like demons to the girl in this moment than they did high school students.

"What's wrong Mea you look like you've seen a ghost?" Max pondered aloud sounding concerned about the expression on the girl's face.

"Ah no I'm fine." The girl replied as she snapped herself out of her paralysis.

"Who are you?" the cat-man in the basement managed to cough.

"We're just a few investigators." The dark haired boy answered as he echoed the term Mikado had used.

"Heh, well our taxes are payed and this building is within our rights so we aren't breaking any human laws." The criminal laughed.

"Working with the Devilukean Empire." Max added with a smirk as he dialed his phone to call Zastin.

"Impossible… humans and aliens working together…." The man coughed out in disbelief

"Hey Zastin," the boy started when the man answered, "I have some criminals for you to pick up… Yes I'm working this job for Mikado… Alright great one more thing… instead of pay could I have the property rights?"

The conversation continued as Max negotiated with the head of the Royal guard. While most of the conversation couldn't be heard it was apparent that Max was negotiating a deal that primarily benefited him.

"You drive a hard bargain, ok. All ten criminals and I'll let you pay half the property tax. We'll deliver the criminals to a nearby park. See you soon." The dark haired boy agreed in such a way as to make the deal seem like the older man's idea.

"You're kind of scary," Mea sweat dropped as she spoke, "but why do you want the property rights?"

"I can't bum off of Rito forever, besides I actually kind of enjoyed that." The boy commented, "I might open up an investigation office here."

"You never change." The dark haired teenage girl sighed as she stepped forward.

"That's rude," Max shot back, "I was gonna let you and James live on the second floor."

"This place isn't exactly constructed like that." James pointed out though he seemed unconcerned with the idea of Max starting a business of this kind of work.

"Ah about that, I negotiated to have it remodeled tomorrow. I'm adding another story and remodeling the upper floors to functions as apartments." The green eyed boy explained.

"Well then we'd be glad to join you here." Sarah concluded before James could ask any further questions.

"Great, then let's get started on moving these guys to the park." The bespectacled boy asserted.

"What about the former prisoners?" Mea inquired as she lifted two of the unconscious criminals with her hair, much to the shock of James and Sarah.

"Oh shoot, I almost forgot. I'll tell Mikado to send someone to come pick them up." Max decided as he dialed his phone again.

"M-mea…" the brunette princess stuttered, "Your h-hair…"

"What about it?" the redhead stated curiously before realizing she had shown them what she was.

"I-it's…" James began, but he was cut off by the redhead girl.

"I'm a trans-weapon, but please don't tell anyone. Very few people know." Mea pleaded as she explained, "I'd get in trouble and I really want to keep living here."

"S-sure…" the two accepted the request still awestruck by the sight. The girl was wildly out of character with the request, but she seemed sincere in her rationale.

"Alright we're set to go. Mikado is sending Oshizu to lead the captives back to the rest house." Max informed the group, "They'll be returned to their respective planets and families tomorrow."

While the group had been in the store the sun had set and night had fallen upon the town. The teens dropped off the criminals in the park. Zastin arrived shortly afterwards with several cards. The criminals vanished in a flash. The skeleton armored man thanked the group before vanishing in the same light. Just as the teens were about to settle down a shout came from nearby.

The four rushed up to find a green haired girl sprawled naked across Rito. Yui, Momo, Nana, and Yami were all present as well. On a bench sat a boy in drag and the entire group seemed confused.

"Just when I thought things couldn't get any weirder." Max sighed.

"Max is that you?" Rito called.

"Yes Senpai," the dark haired boy responded, "I know we told you to try harder but this is a bit much."

"It's not my fault!" the older boy insisted as the shade of red on his face deepened.

"Max!" Yui and Momo exclaimed simultaneously.

"Hello all," the green eyed boy greeted, "could someone bring me up to speed on what happened?"

Yami told Max about the process of "Metamorphose" as Yui and Nana attempted to pry Rito out of Run's grasp. Mea informed Momo of the group's adventures since leaving school. The pinkette's face fell under shadow at the thought of Max moving out.

Eventually, both Run and Ren were clothed properly and the groups headed for their various houses. Nana lectured Rito about how much of a beast he was while Max and Momo trailed behind in silence.

"So you're moving out?" the princess began sadly.

"Yeah," the dark haired boy admitted, "I don't want to be a burden. Besides, it'll be nice to have my own room."

"You just moved in not that long ago…" Momo mumbled still in shock at the news.

"If you'd miss me then why not come with me?" Max asked.

"Because… wait what?" the girl nearly shouted in disbelief.

"Move in with me. I had them divide the penthouse bedroom in two. I made sure Zastin got that written down during negotiations." The green eyed boy elaborated.

"Ru…" the princess uttered on the verge of tears before jumping and hugging the boy as they walked.

"And there'll be an empty floor between us and James and Sarah, so don't worry about them finding an easy way to eavesdrop." Max assured the girl clinging to him.

"Why did you offer them a place to stay?" the pinkette princess inquired with a giggle as she was unable to contain her joy, "Mea said you and Sarah got in a fight."

"Because they needed a place to stay and I've grown accustomed to having lots of people around." The dark haired high schooler explained.

"Oh, and is it true that your powers are magic?" the curious teen continued to press.

"Y-yeah…" the mage admitted awkwardly, "I wasn't sure what this world thought of magic so I didn't say anything."

"So you're a wizard?" Momo interrogated further.

"The proper term is mage, but yes." Max responded.

"That's pretty cool. Science is the magic of this universe, so we don't have mages." The princess educated the boy, "So meeting someone that actually uses magic is interesting."

"Hm, well if science is your magic wouldn't that mean Lala is a mage of your world?" the dark haired boy countered, "It's all in perspective."

"But she doesn't have to read incantations or perform rituals." The pinkette complained, "That's not as interesting."

"Oi, neither do I! That's a really outdated system." Max laughed at the stereotype.

When the group arrived home Nana was still lecturing Rito. Mikan joined in as she lectured the whole group for being late for dinner. After the lecture the group was forced to apologize before finally being allowed to eat.

Rito collapsed onto his bead after dinner and his bath. The boy was exhausted from running all over town and he seemed to be a little upset over the fact that Max would be moving. He had grown accustomed to sharing his room and life with his new friend.

"Ever since we met it's like we've been moving apart…" Rito lamented internally, "Now he and Momo are moving out… right when I need those two to depend on…"

"You know if we'll have an extra room, so if you ever want to come and stay for a little, you're always welcome. Also, training and tutoring is every other day, and I expect an advanced notice from you regarding any absences." Max informed the older boy before shutting off the lights and going to sleep.

(…)

Hey all, back with another chapter. I actually have a specific question about the pacing of this chapter. I think it may be a little fast, but I want your input on it. If you have the chance please tell me what you think! As for the content comments are always welcome on that too if you're feeling up to it. I'm enjoying the way things are going, but if you want me to focus more on the TLR parts of the plot I can try and put more emphasis on those parts. Now responses…

Miknel-san: If I could ship any two characters other than the two cannon pairs it would be Yui and Rito. I'm usually not into the whole tsundere thing, but Yui's character just makes me smile whenever she freaks out. I really liked her character getting more emphasis in TLR Darkness because the audience got to see more to her character than the hard ass tsundere we saw the first go around.

The Guest: Thanks for the review and I hope I answered some of your concerns in this chapter. Your pun actually made me crack a smile when I read it, so ten out of ten. Don't worry about any lemons from me though. I'm kind of awkward with that stuff so unless it's requested I won't include it. Glad I could meet your needs for a good fanfic and I hope to continue to not be tooooo cheesy.

All readers: Hope you're enjoying! See you next time!


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